
Turns out the correct answer was Rhubarb, my ignorance of
which may have come from the fact that I think of it as a fruit. Turns out that it was classified as a vegetable until 1947 and remains a vegetable
in much of the world, but became a fruit in this country because fruits have a different
tax rate than vegetables and it is generally or at least often teamed with
fruits such as strawberries.
When I grew up in Iowa we used to find wild rhubarb in the
spring. Such remains the case in my
sister-in-law’s part of Wisconsin where she finds it in abundance as she walks
her dog. She gathers it up and cooks
with it: two favorites being a rhubarb-custard cake and rhubarb muffins. The latter was offered to Mary and me on our
recent visit. The former I have now made
twice, which was a challenge.
The first time I tried four different stores before I found
a store that stocked it. This year I returned
to the same store and again found it, even though the store had changed
management and name. Several single
stalks were still in the same place. And three gave me the four cups chopped I
needed. My purchase depleted the supply by
about half.

While for the most part rhubarb is considered a healthy
food, the fact that most recipes call for considerable sugar makes that suspect
and, in much more than normal quantities the oxalic acid content could even
become fatal. Of no significance to that observation is the fact that when our son Tim returns from
chaperoning his eighth graders through the East Coast, he always brings some
rhubarb jam to us. Hmmm...
Once, when I was required to give a Change of Command speech
I took advantage of the fields surrounding the base dental clinic to make a
point about my staff and comrades of the USMC 13th Dental Company,
which I was leaving. I likened some of
the civilian staff, who preceded my arrival and would outlast my departure to
the artichokes growing in the field. At
the time, a farmer would need three seasons before he or she would be able to
harvest artichokes to sell at market: steady, worth the wait, and once accomplished provided a valuable
resource of themselves and as models. The new civilians and junior
officers were like the orange groves I could see and smell from the podium: bright,
abundant in their value but less distinguished from each other, more viable as a
group. The core of the unit was likened
to the strawberries in the fields: unique in time and location and providing
value felt through the unit, the Corps, and the rest of the world.
Years later I heard from someone who attended that they
still remembered that speech, in spite of having heard dozens made at similar
occasions. I know I still remember many
of those I referenced.
Burt Bacharach has recently published a book and was
mentioning it on NPR. In my next post I’ll
share with you what that made me think of, and why. Please come visit.
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