Strange as it seems, until relatively recently rhubarb was an exotic mystery plant from unknown lands. Nowadays it may be more at home in a pie or a crumble than a medicine cupboard, but in the late 18th century there was a ‘Rhubarb mania’ which made its roots one of the most sought after medicines of the time. Foust writes that ‘physicians of widely divergent theoretical inclinations and clinical practices esteemed rhubarb as much as any medicine, with the possible exception of Peruvian bark’ (a cure for malaria). Unfortunately, since it came in powdered form, no-one in the west knew exactly which plant’s roots made the best drug. This meant that Rhubarb became a political issue as western scientists and missionaries searched in vain for ‘the true rhubarb’ to cut off the monopoly of eastern merchants and the Russian monarchy. It was only with increasing availability of sugar that it became the popular winter fruit it is known for today.
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