Rhubarb: How I became a Fear Monger

I wrote about rhubarb and its high oxalic acid content last week. Even though I tried to keep to my views on balance and moderation, something felt off for me after writing that post. It came to me loud and clear today with the realization:

I have developed a slight fear of rhubarb.

My week's grocery money was getting pretty low and again I remembered the backyard supply of rhubarb just waiting to be my breakfast addition. But a pang of concern halted my free-rhubarb elation:

Oxalic acid.

I had no idea that the startling tang of rhubarb came from these compounds prior to that post. In fact, before coming to Bastyr University I had no idea what oxalic acid was.

Until last week, my connection with rhubarb was via my mom's amazing strawberry rhubarb flan with the light, crisp hazelnut crust (the hazelnuts from our back yard tree cracked during my many hours of TV watching). The strawberries were left fresh and layered over the golden baked, sweetened rhubarb filled crust; then glazed with molten sunshine (or melted apricot jelly). You can't ask for a more perfect balance of tart, sweet, soft and crisp.

The thought of fresh rhubarb with its cheek sucking tartness has always made my saliva glands hurt in a good way. Taste, not health consequences, have guided my rhubarb eating decisions.

But now I was deciding based on fear, and in my experience, fear is not a good place to make decisions from.

Would I be less healthy if I didn't know what oxalic acid was? Would I eat mountains of rhubarb, make chutneys from it to slather on all my meals, pickle it as a side dish, add it to my pilafs and down sweetened bowls of it for dessert? Would I bind every molecule of calcium I consumed and end up with rhubarb-induced osteoporosis? I highly doubt it.

I guess there may be some importance in knowing that rhubarb has that mineral binding potential... but really I think it would give me, or anyone else, a wicked stomach ache long before it was a problem, and more so who wouldn't very quickly grow sick of eating rhubarb after more than a serving or two...? It's not exactly Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge Coconut Bliss...

I think that what's more important than knowing about the exact content of each food product we eat, is learning how to select and prepare a wide variety of whole foods. Again it's the "little bit of this, little bit of that" approach.

A little more learning might go into exploring how you feel when you eat those foods and maybe what you're body is asking for now, today.

I have written about the known benefits of certain foods every now and then in this blog - in my attempt to create some interest in eating whole foods. But, really the foods speak for themselves, and pleasure and enjoyment are a more sustainable approach in my opinion than a fear-based attempt to gain control over health - so... I'll consider this a nudge to myself to include more recipes and tips on how to enjoy whole foods!

And the email is already out to my mom for her Strawberry Rhubarb Flan recipe - it just so happens to be strawberry, (and rhubarb) season.

The Piglet

Yesterday I pulled the last 3 crumbled bills from my pocket and I bought one precious Porcini mushroom. I couldn't resist the King of Mushrooms - or "the piglet" as the Italians so affectionately call it. What a great name. I cooked the sizable beauty tonight and as I sat on my front steps, the evening soft on my bare arms, I was fully present and ready for that first mouthful. At $2.50 for my locally, wild-foraged fungus, I decided it was to be enjoyed accordingly.

Deep breath and first bite.... meaty, savoury, woody, earthy, slightly nutty with a creamy ever so slightly chewy texture... and a whole lot more than my vocabulary stores can articulate (I'm collecting though!). How similar it was to the distinctive savoury flavour of meat... and there is a reason for that. Like meat, mushrooms contain glutamic acid. This term might sound familiar if you know what the acronym MSG stands for: mono-sodium glutamate. That's right - mushrooms (and also tomatoes and seaweed) are sources of this natural flavour enhancer. In this form and in these naturally occurring amounts, their action spells culinary magic rather than trouble for the MSG sensitive - so you can set aside the flash backs to flushed faces, wheezing lungs or headaches from your last visit to Happiness Imperial Gardens... (I'll resist the temptation to go on about the obvious effects of isolating natural compounds and taking them in unnatural amounts...).

Glutamic acid is sensed by our 5th flavour receptor- umami. Yes our tongues have 5 taste receptors... sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami. Umami is more of a unifier than a "taste"- it amplifies and synergizes the flavor of the rest. It is what you might call "savoury". It is what I call delicious.

Not only do mushrooms have the ability to pump up the flavour in your kitchen creations - they have similar beefing effects on your immune system. The most studied for these immune modulating and anti-cancer effects are Maitake, Shitake and Reishi mushrooms but even the 3 most common supermarket varieties - the lowly button mushroom, Crimini and it's older sibling Portabello - have these polysaccharides (i.e. carbohydrates - poly = many/ saccharides = sugars) and beta-glucans (a soluble fiber made of medium chained polysaccharides that are indigestible by humans). These compounds have the incredible ability to modulate the immune system by activating it without the risk of over-stimulation (which is not a good idea in people with allergies or auto-immune diseases). They can increase production of white blood cells and then activate them, especially the "Natural Killer Cells" and "Cytotoxic T Cells" - two kinds of white blood cell that can attack tumor cells directly. Imagine that.

I love mushrooms, so I don't need much encouragement to eat them, but it helps my wallet to know they have potent anti-cancer and immune boosting properties that equal an excellent long-term health investment. That definitely encourages me to indulge a little more often.