Just started the first batch of rhubarb, 4.5gal.

Trying to reslove whether or not to chalk this must has been a real
maze of reading and digging, hunting info on the net. There a few
items I suppose one could hanging the ol' hat on.

Rhubarb's oxalic acid content in the petiole varies widely.
Rhubarb, is generally consider the highest in OA.
Spinach and rhubarb wrestle for first place depending on the source of
the information.
Lots of veggies have OA. Lettuce for instance.
OA are especially bad if you have or are prone to kidney stones.
Too much OA can kill.
Stewed rhubarb has less OA than raw. This seems to be due to the loss
of juice during the stewing process. I don't think this advantage
would fit our uses as we retain the juices for making wine.

Below are a few sites containing bits and pieces of info on rhubarb
and OA.

My parents came up for the holiday. Brought 9 cases of 2 Buck Chuck.
I asked if they could fill the truck when they came up, looked pretty
good to me! The plum still has it's red color and is doing very
nicely.

Take Care,
Steve - Noobie
Oregon

http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcom...er/oxalic.html

http://www.foodscience.ac.nz/researc...ning_food.html

http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/rhubarb-poison.html#TOC82

http://forum.kingsnake.com/res/messages/18621.html

http://www.r-biopharm.com/general/pr...oductlist&id=3

http://food.oregonstate.edu/a/rhubarb.html

http://www.bioscience.org/2003/v8/s/1082/tables.htm

http://merck.micromedex.com/index.as...e=BPM01NP07T07

http://www.andrews.edu/NUFS/literature%20reviews.html