[Sca-cooks] Semi-OTL what to do with rue?

[ranvaig at columbus.rr.com]

>I thought rue was poisonous, or is that just ...bad for pregnant 
>women to consume?
>Phillipa

http://www.uni-graz.at/~katzer/engl/Ruta_gra.html
>...considered potentially poisonous, although their toxicity may be neglected in amounts suitable for cooking (their bitter taste will, for the most part, make accidental poisoning impossible). Extreme overdoses of the pure essential oil of rue have even been reported to cause abortus, and the plant was even called herbe à la belle fille "Herb of fair maidens" in French due to its abortive action. Furthermore, severe poisonings have resulted from uncontrolled medical use of the root. Some North American sources treat rue as a deadly poison, which I find quite ridiculously exaggerated (unless the plant develops a different spectrum of secondary metabolites in Europe and in America).

Better for pregnant women to avoid it, but the risk sounds small.

Ranvaig