[rsynnott]

> Take tea and rhubarb, for example; the foreign countries cannot get along for a single day without them.

I'm curious where the idea that rhubarb was a major dependency came from. Or indeed the idea that it was a Chinese monopoly; it was grown in Europe in this era.

[boomboomsubban]

Rhubarb started being cultivated in England either a few decades earlier or at most a century, and the kind grown in Europe was a different species many considered inferior. Rhubarb was also frequently used in medicine, though it had little effect. It was a major export for centuries, primarily to Russia.