Rhubarb is a somewhat strange food with an utterly fascinating and wonderful flavor and texture. Even the source of its name is unusual: The "rhu" comes from "Rha," which was the ancient name of the Volga River, on whose banks the plant is believed to have originated. The English "rhubarb" is a derivative of the Latin phrase "rha barbarum" which refers to a region near the Volga River, where the barbarians lived. And who, exactly, were the barbarians? According to the Romans, any people who weren't them.

But I digress. Rhubarb is also peculiar in that it is botanically a vegetable, but is more or less officially considered a fruit, and is treated as such culinarily. (The opposite is much more common, i.e., a botanical fruit being regarded and used as a vegetable. Examples include tomatoes, winter squash, zucchini, and cucumbers.)

Even though it resembles pink celery, rhubarb is actually a member of the buckwheat family, and a close relative of sorrel.

Rhubarb wasn't discovered as a food by Europeans (or by anyone else, for that matter) until the early part of the 18th century. That is when we have the first recorded descriptions of rhubarb stalks being used for pies and puddings. It was the English who eventually developed recipes for pies, jams, chutneys, and compotes made from rhubarb. By the early part of the 20th century, they were consuming as much as 30 tons of it per day! (As a nation, NOT per capita!)

Rhubarb was first introduced to the United States right after the Revolutionary War–indirectly, through the British. Americans were understandably suspicious of the British at this time, and the situation was not helped by the fact that rhubarb was initially construed as the vegetable it technically is, leading people to consume the leaves, rather than the stems. Many Americans discovered the hard way that these leaves are poisonous, so rhubarb developed a bad reputation (not worth dying for), and disappeared, for a while, from American tables.

Russian trappers and traders reintroduced rhubarb to the New World via Alaska in the 1880s, during the Alaskan gold rush, when scurvy was a big problem in that area. This time around, helpful advice about eating the stalks rather than the stems led rhubarb to become a popular "functional food," as it was believed to have curative properties. Word spread across the continental United States, and by the end of the 19th century, rhubarb was popular all over the country, particularly in New England, where it was used not only for dessert , but also as an ingredient in homemade wine.

Culinarily Speaking
Rhubarb is very sour and quite fibrous. The stems are the edible part of the plant, and, as I mentioned above, the leaves are actually toxic. Look for moderately thin pink or red stalks. The greener, thicker stalks are stringier and sourer. Rhubarb must be cooked, as it is inedible raw. It also must be sweetened, as its sourness is so extreme, it is virtually inedible unsweetened, even when cooked. Rhubarb keeps for up to a week or even longer if stored in the refrigerator in a sealed plastic bag. It also freezes perfectly, and since its season is so short (spring), I often freeze a few batches for use throughout the year. You can freeze rhubarb in whole stalks, or cut into any size. Seal it in a heavy plastic bag, and freeze it straight, without further fuss. You can cook or bake it directly from the freezer, without defrosting it first.

Nutritionally Speaking
Rhubarb is an excellent diuretic/laxative, and this is its biggest, and perhaps only, health-giving property. Beyond this, it doesn't have a lot to offer nutritionally, but it is very enjoyable to eat, and has practically no calories. If you are able to sweeten it with a light hand, you can make it into a dessert sauce or pudding that won't tip the scales.