The now world-renowned Rhubarb Triangle, just down the road from Leeds is responsible for many delicious desserts across the globe so let’s look at the history behind the vegetable – yes, it’s a vegetable! And discover how Yorkshire came to be the world capital of forced rhubarb.
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Plus, links to some of my favourite recipes for rhubarb.!
Rhubarbs history goes back a long way with recorded use in ancient Greek and Roman medicine, and possibly even earlier in Chinese medicine. The Romans imported the roots from unknown barbarian lands (probably Mongolia)and the word rhubarb is of Latin origin – first being called Rha barbarum which eventually evolved into rhabarbarum.
Yorkshireman, Sir Matthew Lister, introduced edible garden rhubarb into England from Italy around 1620. At first it was appreciated for its medicinal qualities, but from the 1780’s the chopped stalks began to be used as a substitute for gooseberries in pies. In the late 1870’s, Joseph Whitwell erected forcing sheds, where it was grown in the dark, and after that the expansion of the rhubarb industry was very rapid.
The Rhubarb Triangle
The soil in this area was of a type that suited the species. Cheap coal from the local coal mines was available to heat the forcing sheds as were large quantities of horse manure and ‘night soil’ from the urban areas. This resulted in the area of land between Leeds, Wakefield and Morley becoming known as the Rhubarb Triangle and over 95% of the forced rhubarb grown in England came from this district. Around 1900, the area was famous throughout Europe for the quality of its early rhubarb, which reached London markets in time for Christmas when it commanded a very high price. Large quantities were also purchased by agents for the French market in Paris. Most of the growing and forcing was done by hundreds of small family farmers. It was only in later years that some growers expanded and owned many thousands of roots and extensive forcing sheds.
in the 1870’s, the railway companies were transporting large amounts of rhubarb, especially to the London Covent Garden and Spitalfields Markets, and began to run a train with express status to carry nothing but rhubarb.
The train was run by the Great Northern Railway Company and left Ardsley station every weekday night during the forced rhubarb season from just before Christmas until Easter. It ran every year until the 1961-2 winter when a rail strike caused the growers to find another way to get the very perishable commodity to market. Road transport began to take over, being more flexible as the pattern of marketing had changed and London no longer had the monopoly of the trade. At its peak, the Rhubarb Special was taking over 200 tons of rhubarb every day from Yorkshire to London. the service ended shortly after.
The Rhubarb Triangle Today,
Around 9 square miles between Wakefield, Morley and Rothwell. The remaining farms growing the forced rhubarb still produce the best in the world with celebrity chefs referring to Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb as ‘Champagne rhubarb’. Wakefield holds an annual rhubarb festival and the forcing sheds have become tourist attractions.
Protected Designation of Origin status (PDO)
Twelve farmers who farm within the Rhubarb Triangle applied to have the name "Yorkshire forced rhubarb" added to the list of foods and drinks that have their names legally protected by the European Commission’s Protected Food Name scheme the application was successful and the farmers were awarded Protected Designation of Origin status (PDO) in February 2010. Food protected status accesses European funding to promote the product and legal backing against other products made outside the area using the name.
Take a tour of the forcing sheds
Tours take place at: Ashfield Farm, Main Street, Carlton, WF3 3RW
The visit started with tea / coffee / biscuits served on arrival then into the make shift lecture theatre. With patio seats but heated where we met Janet Oldroyd who told us the fascinating history of rhubarb, earliest recorded use of rhubarb is 2700BC she also told us how this Siberian vegetable came to Yorkshire and why it thrives herein our wet soil.
How it was used as a medicine and is still use in medical research today. She was a medical scientist. She explained how we came to eat rhubarb, and how the forcing process was first discovered and perfected by her ancestors.
we learned about the all the fabulous health Benefits we get from eating rhubarb which are not lost when its cooked. Rhubarb was as a very important drug of the time, being used for a variety of ailments particularly gut, lung and liver problems. Marco Polo is credited with bringing the plant to Europe in the thirteenth century when it was referred to as the Rhacoma root.
Next, we went into the serine candlelit forcing sheds to see the process of forcing and how it works. If you listen carefully, you can hear it growing.
We had the opportunity to buy award winning strains of roots to grow your own high-quality rhubarb. Or we could buy forced rhubarb, preserves, pickles and recipe books all at low farm prices
The visit took around 2 hours. Great value
Take a look at some of my recipes
https://www.coeurdexocolat.com/rhubarb--white-chocolate-curd
https://www.coeurdexocolat.com/rhubarb-and-chocolate-crumble
https://www.coeurdexocolat.com/wakefield-rhubarb-syrup
https://www.coeurdexocolat.com/wakefield-rhubarb--white-chocolate-tart