Making String from Rhubarb!
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- Опубліковано 16 жов 2024
- If you usually discard the stringy peel when preparing rhubarb, think again. It makes a very nice cordage material.
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I just tried this. Very pretty result. Four skinny stalks yielded about 7 feet of string.
I never peel rhubarb. I have loads in the garden. My kids and I love it. Maybe now I will peel it...
Huh, I thought I was weird for thinking the stringy bits of rhubarb could be turned into rope! I hadn't ever met anyone who even considered it a cordage material, before now. Thanks for sharing!
You inspired me to make rhubarb cord last spring, and the entire process smelled wonderful.
I'll have to wait until next spring to try this but you certainly have given me a new way of seeing plants. My wild suburban garden needs a massive clean out when all my overgrowns have gone to seed. Last year I kept thinking" hmm, I could dye with this". This year I'm eyeing my 7' Italian parsley and thinking, "hmm, I could make cord with this". But I spent yesterday making cord from the withered Crocosmia leaves- soaked, dried, and wetted. Twisting a nice little 12' cord was pretty hard on the hands so I switched gears and made a wobbly but sweet smelling little basket. All inspired by you!
Oxalic acid is also the key ingredient of Bar Keeper's Friend -- useful for cleaning glass and metals, and de-tarnishing.
wow, this conversation inspired a conversation with chatGPT. rhubarb could be made into a vinegar and used for cleaning. It's a bit more ... I believe the word it used was abrasive.... than acetic acid like in vinegar, so it urged caution and also urged care in labeling such a self-made product "for cleaning only" so nobody accidentally ingests it. I'm thinking of making a multipurpose cleaner and making some homemade rhubarb vinegar to be used around the house and in the laundry!
@@caydancebloom Yeah -- why not?
We've always just cut rhubarb and cooked and eaten it. We've never peeled it and only discarded the minor amount that didn't cut through when slicing it up. HMMM, I'll have to think this over. I do have rhubarb in my garden. Blessings.
Us too, but pink string makes it worth a few moments peeling the most robust fibres off, especially as the rhubarb matures
Finally! Something to make Celery worth the dirt it grows in!
Not sure how you managed to do that without eating it (lol). I must admit I ate quite a few of the leaves when I was a kid (mainly to hide the evidence that I`d been raiding Grans rhubarb again). I never felt any ill effects from it though. Gran obviously knew I`d been at the rhubarb but never said anything. She would occasionally shudder when she`d see me eating the rhubarb without any sugar on it. A paper bag with some sugar and a small stalk of rhubarb was a great teat treat for a perpetually hungry boy in the late 60`s and early 70`s.
Thank you for awakening some old and pleasant memories.
are the leaves not poisonous...?
@@deletedddddddddd If you ate an entire meal of them yes. Like anything else eg. salt, sugar, caffeine etc. eat to much and they go from being beneficial to a low grade poison that you have to build up the toxins for it to become harmful. There is more chance of someone becoming ill from pesticides used on the Rhubarb than the Rhubarb itself. That last statement is assuming a good and working immune system something our modern day society does not encourage.
Never thought of it! Thank you! I will remember to have a play once our rhubarb regrows here. Nearly spring again here! So many new ideas to look for! Also just transplanted some stinging nettles for some more fun!
I have watch your videos non stop all week while its been raining in Sydney and I love them. I have pink hands at the moment after peeling my Rhubarb so I can have a go at making string (cordage). So wish we had bramble hedges in Australia.
I’ve been meaning to try cordage making for a while. My interest was piqued during the pandemic. I’m finally getting around to learning. This video was very helpful and I’ll be trying it out this evening! Thank you!
Wonderful. Rhubarb fiber never occurred to me. Thank you!
Tried this out when my housemate made rhubarb pie, it was so fun and the colours look great! Thank you for the video!
What a fantastic idea! I spent all harvest season stripping my rhubarb back this growing season - a feat in-it-self as my plant was huge and i'd already had enough variants of jelly, jam and pie fillings and did NOT want to make any more haha. My use this season was in my hand paper making, however, it still needed to be stripped back. It added a lovely pinkish earthy hue to my hand made denim paper. Thank you for sharing the process for cordage - i'm excited to try this next growing season and incorporate that into some of my designs :-D
That paper sound gorgeous!
@@SallyPointer Thank you - it is - I won't post my IG page as I am not that way inclined. However... on INSTAGRAM we see the MOUNTAIN and live in a VALLEY and I make PAPER so i'll let you figure it out - or not lol...
Thank you, learning so much from your channel.
Would you consider talking about rhubarb leaves as a mordant in a future video?
Will put it on the list for next year!
Your videos are terrific! I'm just getting into fibre and basketry and am finding your videos very helpful. Thanks!
Lovely calming video. With a beautiful smile. A joy to watch.
Watching your videos has inspired me to at least try to make cordage out of all of my plants - anything that is stringy when I chop it up when thinning things out. I hadn't used rhubarb yet. The color IS attractive. So far the strongest fiber I've found is from milkweed.
Oooh! I need to grow some and spin it!
Never heard of this....I have rhubarb and am going to try this cording out. Thank you for the information. This is July of 2022 and I live in the far South Central of Alaska. My rhubarb this year was more sparse that usual. It has been a fairly cold summer.
Thanks so much! Great video, easy to follow and your voice is lovely to listen too x
another suggestion for fiber after dismissing rhubarb.
Senecio Jacobea. It grew bigger than ever in my garden this year. It gives excellent fibers. Fairly easy to extract too.
I just gave this a go and made some string! thanks for the inspiration and the excellent tutorial.
This is awesome. And funny. Thanks for making it!
Ive done the same thing with butterbur,Great video........Cheers
Great to see. Thanks, think i may try gunnera as a tropical 'big brother' non edible.
You've totally inspired me to finally have a go!
love it!
thank you!
Wish I'd known about this in the early summer, I harvested about 20 kg of rhubarb this year!
Very pretty cordage! I was wondering if the fibers from celery can be used this way too?
just made some and its fab.
Inspired to bring out my bead spindle and finish some natural green cotton. It's the wrong time of year from nettles here.
Well done
Just made my first cord. Rhubarb as it is what I had quickly on hand. Can you show me how to care for the fiber (before making a cord) that you don’t use right away? I don’t understand the best way to store it or even to sort it well.
If you've prepared fibre but not used it, just make it into a little bundle or coil and put it away somewhere dry. I have a basket full of bundles of fibre waiting to be used during the winter.
thank you very much!
I’d love to see cordage being made from other plants and cultures, like milkweed
Sadly milkweed doesn't grow round here.
WoW! Something I'd have never thought of but it looks like it not only works but works well too! Looks like it could be rhubarb play time soon!
It's very important to play with your food ;)
@@SallyPointer Yes, I often play hide and seek with my vegetables! Seems they love it!
I found it very brittle after keeping the cordage for a few months. It did not work out for me.
That's useful feedback. I've still got my first bit of rhubarb in my teaching kit and it's held up ok, though nowhere near as strong as say flax or nettle
@@SallyPointer your yoube channel is wonderful. Afyer playing with cordage using all kinds of fibers for the last 3 yrs I am now onvolved in a project on plant fibers and structures from Kongo. Almost everything I work on (Africa Museum Tervuren BE) is cordage. Structures mainly looping. Today I found ply split braiding, had never seen that for Kongo. In the next weeks a bag made from sansevieria is on my to do list. Sansevierua sp. Give lovely fibers, I tried 2 yrs ago with old leaves from my own plant,retting them in one of my rain water thanks.
Flax remains my all time favorite. Harvest in july, split the fibers of immediately, sooo easy and strong, long fibers. Hemp is ok but harder, nettle also good. Bramble, linden bast, burdock good for basketry. It is fun to try the hackles I have been collecting from Germany
Well done :) I was wondering if lemongrass would be good for cordage or weaving the whole leaves. Up for another challenge?
Not something I have access to here apart from the bits used in curries, but if it grows for you then definitely try it!
Have you made a video on using the leaves of rhubarb? I'd love to see it!
That’s Fantabbydosy so using the same thought process could you use celery? The Romans brought us celery and also Alexandra which I believe is related. The Romans’ even used the celery leaves 🍁 apparently.
I was wondering the same thing!
How strong is this rhubarb cord?
Good for light use, I wouldn't use it where strength is needed, use nettle or bramble in that case
I think I just picked up a new hobby
Yes
Oh God! I know how that feels! I hope I wont, though?
So many fun things to make string from! Could you use celery?
i love this and will try to make some. Wonder if you would know if i can use nasturtium stems to make baskets. i have lots of it. thanks so much
I genuinely don't know. I'll have a good look next time the nasturtiums are in full growth. Let me know if you try it!
what about bitter dock and curly dock? if they're related to rhubarb could we make cord out of them the same way?
I am fascinated by this, in all it's forms. But would also like to know, how is it used afterwards?
Lots of people add handmade cordage to small weaving projects, or try some braiding or macrame maybe. There's so many uses for string beyond just trying things together
oh wow! thats amazing! so if you continued on then you'll get a very long string?
That's right! 'How long is a piece of string' really is answered by ' how long would you like it?'
I know you said not load bearing but if you braided enough together could it be used for small macrame??? I have so much rhubarb and hate throwing out any parts!
Definitely worth trying, for holding something light it should be fine, I wouldn't trust a heavy plantpots to it though for example if you are thinking of making hanging baskets.
Could rhubarb fibers be used like flax for spinning and weaving?
They are a little brittle long term, but for small decorative pieces you can certainly weave with it
You say that the leaves make a good mordant, do you have any advice on how to do that?
Boil them, preferably outside as the oxalic acid fumes aren't good for you, strain, then add the scoured wool to the cooled liquor and bring back to the boil. Let it cool down in the pan, then rinse.
@@SallyPointer Wicked thanks.
@@SallyPointer does that mean the leaves dye the wool or do you need something else too?
@@janinedear-barlow a mordant helps the dye stick to the fibre, some alter the colour, most are just to improve colour take up and light and washfastness
Would you recommend using rhubarb before it blooms or after for cordage? They get more fibery after rhe blooming, so i was wondering which would yeald more longer fiber.
It would be a good comparison to try
@@SallyPointer Second question too :)
When you make the cordage, you use somewhat half dry materials while they are still bendy, right? Can you set it aside when you run out of material and continue with new material later? Or will it all be done in one sitting, meaning the pile of material you gather determines how long the cordage can be? Meaning, you tie it up, finalizing the length.
It's a lovely color. Is it fast? Or does it fade?
So far so good! We'll see what its like in a year or so.
@@SallyPointer How is it now? :)
@@Just_Sara looks about the same. It's been kept more or less out of direct sunlight
quick question, can rhubarb leaf be dried to use as a mordant or is it only good for that when its fresh?
I've only used it fresh, but I would think a lot of the oxalic acid remains in the dried leaves, you might need to use more though
@@SallyPointer more is not a problem, my batches are still small. also as it went by it got stringier. :) more fibers. Apparently like how nettles get more fibers as they grow. also my computer monitor gets rather hot, so hanging the newly separated strands over it helps them dry quicker I think. who knows, the leaves may even have more oxalic acid than when the stems are harvested fresh.
@@SallyPointer um... fresh? ripe? yeah I think ripe is the word I'm looking for. may even have more oxalic acid than when the stems are RIPE.
If you put the leaves over weeds it kills them.
indeed it does... great for using the leaf as impressions too.
Is it better to use younger or older rhubarb for cordage?
Not too young, you want well developed fibre, and you can use it til the stalk is well mature from then
@@SallyPointer Alright. Thanks for the clarification.
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wait youre supposed to peel it...? i never peel mine, cook them with the skins on,
I cook mine whole too, unless it's getting old or I want to make string!
But what could you use rhubarb string for?
Anywhere you might need string! I've seen some lovely decorative elements on baskets done with it recently.
Would this work with celery?
To a point, yes
Seriously? Remove the outer layer before cooking? Well that's the first time I've ever heard someone add that step! I've never removed it when cooking rhubarb. What does it do when you remove the outer layer? After cooking the rhubarb isn't hard or chewy at all if you leave the outer layer on, so I'm really curious as to why you would want to add a laborious step. Does it change the flavour?
I only do it for very old rhubarb or when I want to make pink cordage ;)
can rhubarb stems still be eaten after the plant has gone to seed? and can the rhubarb be used to make a red dye?
Rhubarb leaves give a mordant effect, but it's not much use as a dye. I think it's best eaten before seeding, but that's more about the strength of the plant than any contraindications as far as I'm aware
@@SallyPointer asked someone the latter question, she said it got too bitter to eat after that. since i was talking about a rhubarb plant I'd donated to the community garden I didn't want to avail myself of it without permission. also its seeds are actually kinda pretty.
This is interesting, but on a culinary note, I would never peel rhubarb before cooking/baking -- any more than I would cut the nutritious and tasty green parts off leeks (!), which Americans seem to think is de rigueur. It's as if they think they'll be eating it raw. I always prefer to keep the whole item, whether it's the skin on kiwifruit, the skin of potato, or what-have-you.
Normally I wouldn't either unless the rhubarb is a it older late season, but the fibre is a fun cordage material so a small compromise allows both.
@@SallyPointer Yes indeed -- and I really enjoy your channel. Quite 'off the beaten path', at least to me!
I finally got enough rhubarb fibres to work with but think I'm doing something wrong when I go to twist it up .... I can't for the life of me get it to make a cord when I twist it, it just unravels
Is there any possibility that you are crossing in the same direction as you are twisting? Have a quick look at one of my other cordage videos in case a different angle helps it make more sense.
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Id rather eat rhubarb
Doesn't stop you eating it, just bonus string