As for Rhubarb I grow it. Have a patch. set from my mother's old patch. Had to try 3 different places. The 3rd was the charm.
The stalks are not poison, my brother and I used to chew on them them raw all the time.
However the leaves contain oxalic acid. But in low levels. If you cook down 20 lb of leaves in water till you have a gallon of liquid, you can use the liquid as a bug spray for other plants.
However You can eat a pound of leaves in a day with out absorbing enough oxalic acid to do you any harm. However it might give you a belly ache, if you ate a pound raw. I takes like 30 grams of the stuff to stick in your body long enough to do any harm.
Most leaves I have ever been able to eat in one sitting, is just a few leaves in one day.
Wrapped around a pork and rice mixture, like a pig in a poke, or Italian grape leaf type wrap. Very good that way, rivals grape leaves
Never ate them raw, as a habbit. Tried one once raw, not very appetizing.
If some one wants to challenge me on this will make a video of me eating a stalk raw. Which would be slightly unpleasant to eat a whole stalk quickly. As they are quite sour, and stringy. Then you all can watch me.
While I do not die. But make ugly pucker faces, and struggle with my missing teeth to chew it.LOL.
The seads however are very toxic.
Best way to have Rubarb is in a strawberry rhubarb pie, or cut up in small pieces then cooked down in a pot with sugar and dumplings.
Poke I grow too.
Now poke does have a poison also. But is fairly non poisonous when tender, in the spring and early summer.
But toxic levels increase to more dangerous, as it gets to late summer, and it is absolutely dangerous in the fall. The berries will absolutely end your life without a stomach pump and some quick medical attention. My mom used to bring it to a boil, as do I, and drain it three times, then finish cooking. This leaches the poison. If there is any in it yet. Plus makes it very apatizing .
When doing my survival thing I picked a batch of leaves during the fall, and cooked it without doing the boil thing. I had the worst case of diarea, stomach cramps and dehydration over about a day, I believe I have ever had, before or since. Well not the worst. Had the bird flu that put me in the hospital and destroyed my health to this day. But you get the idea.
Oh and Guinnie beans, DO NOT BOIL THEM IN STEW WITH CABBAGE, AND TOMATOES.
Rather do and then report back here about your after dinner experiance.LOL
