Carboy

Today's the day ........................ to talk rhubarb

My Dad was a pharmacist - all 45 years of his working life. When he started, the work that a pharmacist did was quite different from what they have to do nowadays. In those days, you made most of the pills and tablets that you dispensed. The pharmacy was full of jars and bottles labelled with their contents - quite incomprehensible to the man in the street.

This wonderful big glass carboy labelled Rhubarb has been in the house for as long as I can remember and I asked my Dad if rhubarb really had been used as a medicine - and of course it had.

In fact rhubarb has a long history of herbal usage especially in Chinese medicine. When taken internally in small doses, it acts as an astringent tonic to the digestive system. In larger doses, it acts as a mild laxative.

Who'd have thought, eh ..........................?!