• Zoboomafoo@slrpnk.net
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    10 months ago

    Certain vegetables like leeks get buried as they sprout to make the “shoot” part as long as possible.

    Rhubarb is grown in near complete darkness, and it screams as it grows towards a light it’ll never reach

    • seathru@lemm.ee
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      10 months ago

      Rhubarb is grown in near complete darkness, and it screams as it grows towards a light it’ll never reach

      Rhubarb cellars are metal. I forgot all about that.

      • NielsBohron@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        There’s some really great metal band names in here (IMHO).

        • Metalcore: Scream At A Light You’ll Never Reach

        • Stoner: Rhubong and the Devil’s Lettuce

        • Doom: Near Complete Darkness

        • Black: Rhübarb Screams

        • Death: Cellar Crop

        • Goregrind: Fed Shit and Kept in the Dark

        • Country/Folk Metal (aka Hank III): Rhubarb Wire Fences

    • Holyhandgrenade@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      I have a rhubarb plant in my garden, and deep down I know that when I have long perished and my earthly remains have rejoined with the earth’s soil, that rhubarb plant will still be there, stubbornly making more rhubarb than anyone can eat.

    • CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social
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      10 months ago

      Where does the rhubarb get energy then? Does it just rely on stored energy in the seed or roots or something and get given light eventually, or can it actually use tiny amounts of light?

      • Zoboomafoo@slrpnk.net
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        10 months ago

        The plant has an energy reserve underground that is allowed to build up for a year or two before starting to harvest.

        If you are doing it sustainably, you can harvest the shoots until they start showing signs of undernourishment, then you stop harvesting and let it build energy back up.

        Forcing the rhubarb is an option for the shoots you plan on eating, they grow faster and sweeter than if they grow naturally

        • NielsBohron@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          The plant has an energy reserve underground that is allowed to build up for a year or two before starting to harvest.

          Not a botanist, but I’m pretty sure that’s why rhubarb is so sweet. Those energy reserves are mostly sugar, so maximizing the energy reserves maximizes the sweetness, like you note below.

          • hydroptic@sopuli.xyz
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            10 months ago

            Yeah the rhubarb that people grow in their own gardens without a rhubarb torture cellar is way more sour than store-bought, in my experience.