Rhubarb Leaves

[ASH]

I know these are poisenous in large enough quantities but can they be used to wrap food in for protection when cooking over an open fire? If not what leaves can be used for this?


Thanks in advance for any advice,

ASH

 

[littlebiglane]

burdock leaves are good for this. some other docks can be used too.

 

[firecrest]

My grandma used to use rhubarb leaves to clean pots with, just boil them in the pan and it makes them sparkle.

 

[xylaria]

I have no idea if rhubarb leaves are safe to use as a wrap.

This website has everything you have ever wanted to know about rhubarb including how toxic the leaves are. Personally I wouldn't, as I am not keen on the idea that the toxic princbles aren't completely understood. Wrapping should well under the lethal dose for oxalates, but the dose of oxalic acid that causes illness varies considerably between people.

Have a good look around that website, it gives a lot of uses for the whole plant including using the leaves as a mordant for home dying and hair dye from the roots. And it has firecrest granny pot cleaning thing. Here is me thinking it is just some bloomin big plant that makes two bowls of nice crumble a year.

 

[alpha_centaur]

you can supposidly also use them as an insectiside. What you do is put them in a bucket of water in your greenhouse and you've got no more white/green fly.

Not tried this but was told it by an old farmer and he's not been wrong yet.

 

[jimford]

Rhubarb (and sorrel) contains oxalic acid, both in the stem and leaves. Soluble oxalic acid combines with calcium in the body to produce insoluble crystals of calcium oxalate, which can cause kidney stones. My wife, who used to be a microbiologist, always said that she could tell if a person that supplied a urine sample had recently eaten rhubarb, from the calcium oxalate crystals in the sample!

Jim

 

[locum76]

I ate too much raw rhubarb as a kid and now I have kidney stones, it could be from drinking way too much espresso though.

At the farm we use the rhubarb leaves as slug traps and, because rhubarb is allelopathic, we use them to mulch over the weeds around the rhubarb.

We do compost the leaves because I've heard that enough heat denatures the oxalic acid and they won't harm plants after the compost is finished rotting.

So perhaps it would be safe to use rhubarb leaves as a wrap because the heat of cooking would render them harmless. I'm still not sure if i would use them for that purpose though. I don't think the taste of rhubarb leaves would go with very many foods.

 

[locum76]

in the past, butterbur leaves have been used to wrap food.

 

[John Fenna]

I used to love my Mums Rhubarb Crumble.....now I have trouble with kidneys stones and have to limit many wild foods (Wood Sorrel) etc.
I would not mess around with the bits of Rhubarb that are said to be the evil bits if this is what the good bits have done to me!
Until I met a Herbalist who now supplies me with a "gloop" that helps stop the stones forming, I was guaranteed at least one hospital visit per year (for pain control), used to carry Pethadine in my wallet to cope with bad attacks and got a taste for Diamorphine....
The biggest stone I passed is now tied with ordinary sewing thread to my Dream catcher (along with souvineers of other major life events) and is over 2.5mmx2mm, not counting the outcrops of Uric Acid which have crumbled away with time...
I realy used to like Rhubarb, but now I rue eating it!

 

[humblebumble]

i have been told they're ever so slightly poisonous. i guess a lot of the comments here confirm that. i and a friend once spent a couple of days harvesting dyeing rhubarb. we would now and again cut a wee pyramid in the base of the stalk and drink the liquid that collected. gave quite a wee zing.

i guess i won't be doing that again.

still, the work was fun, and we got paid extra for working in the rain. we used the giant rhubarb leaves to keep our tat and heads dry when it was raining

 

[Kerne]

At the farm we use the rhubarb leaves as slug traps and, because rhubarb is allelopathic, we use them to mulch over the weeds around the rhubarb.

We do compost the leaves because I've heard that enough heat denatures the oxalic acid and they won't harm plants after the compost is finished rotting.

I have always composted my rhubarb leaves and, until I read this, I had no idea there might be a problem with this. I will try and find a way to use them as a slug repellent in the future.

 

[Jaysurfer]

If you can get them Banana leaves are excellent for wrapping food in to cook.

 

[Rebel]

If you can get them Banana leaves are excellent for wrapping food in to cook.

I've been thinking about foraging for bananas in the UK and not only are the leaves good for wrapping food in they make good disposable plates. I heard that with global warming there might be wild banana plants in our woods soon.

 

[jimford]

If you can get them Banana leaves are excellent for wrapping food in to cook.

You got them in Somerset?

Jim

 

[John Fenna]

My wife tried growing a banana plant - indoors - but over-watered it and it rotted.
You would have thought that (even in West Wales) plants would be safe from over watering if they had a roof over them!
Poor likkle thing only got to be about 12" tall!

 

[Toddy]

Rhubarb leaves can be used to make a very basic dye mordant.
And it's toxic.

I wouldn't recommend eating them in any form.

Funnily enough, the slugs seem to love eating the leaves of mine though,

cheers,
Toddy

 

[scallywag]

I love rhubarb compot! Leaves may be toxic the stem is fine, at least I've always thought so...You think my mum watned to poison me when I was a kid?

 

[ASH]

Thanks for all your reply's.

Just to reiterate I have no intention of eating the leaves as I know they are toxic, I just thought it was a big leaf that could be used to protect food from burning in the fire.

I will definately give Burdock leaves a try. Are there any other native species which can be used in this way?

 

[Toddy]

Butterburr, mallow, and bearing in mind they are high in oxalic acid, dockens. I'm sure someone mentioned using hogweed too but the sap from the stems is truly bad stuff
Japanese knotweed is edible, grape leaves where you can find them growing in the UK, raspberry, bramble and blackcurrant can be used the same way.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Melonfish]

hmm, now we came across something looking alot like rhubarb yesterday whilst out gathering ramsons. it was hairy though? really hairy and quite tough as a plant.
very similar to rhubarb tho.