We were harvesting Rhubarb at the community garden today and the usual discussion about Rhubarb leaves being toxic came up again.

Rhubarb leaves are considered inedible due to their high concentration of oxalic acid, a natural substance found in many plants including leafy greens and nuts. In fact, both the stalks and leaves of Rhubarb contain oxalic acid, but the leaves have a much higher content.

Ingesting large amounts of oxalic acid can cause nausea, vomiting and in the long term, serious kidney issues. So, eating Rhubarb leaves is not recommended!

However, composting rhubarb leaves is perfectly safe. Although the leaves contain significant oxalic acid, the acid is broken down and diluted fairly quickly during the decomposition process. In fact, even if your entire compost pile was made up of rhubarb leaves and stalks, the resulting compost will be pretty similar to any other compost.

The massive leaves are a perfect, nutritious addition to a garden compost. So, we take the leaves off and compost them before we take our Rhubarb stems away to eat.

We discussed what we were going to do with our harvested Rhubarb stems this afternoon: Chantelle is going to have Rhubarb crumble; Nigel is going to make a Rhubarb and sugar sandwich; Sam will be using his Rhubarb to make a delicious chopped salad with cucumber, spinach, tomatoes and parsley; and I have made a Rhubarb, banana and orange smoothie.

Enjoy Rhubarb season! And don't forget to add the leaves to your compost to enrich your soil next season :)