By Isla Quinn
Pink stalks. Black sheds. One flame. That is the picture the sources paint of forced rhubarb in West Yorkshire, and it is stranger than it sounds, because the plant is made to grow where it cannot see.
Where the triangle is
Wikipedia’s article on the Rhubarb Triangle places it in West Yorkshire and says it is bounded by Wakefield, Morley and Rothwell, an area of 9 square miles (23 square kilometres). The article on rhubarb itself names the corners differently: Wakefield, Leeds and Morley. Rothwell and Leeds are not the same place, and we show both rather than pick one.
What forcing means
Britannica describes rhubarb as a hardy perennial native to Asia, grown for its large edible leafstalks. Forcing is a way of tricking it. Wikipedia says the cultivation method for forced rhubarb was developed in the early 1800s. Plants are moved into long, heated sheds and kept in complete darkness. In the dark the stalks reach for light that never comes, and the rhubarb article says the result is a “sweeter, more tender stalk”. It adds that hothouse rhubarb is usually brighter red, tenderer and sweeter than the outdoor kind, and that the crowns are usually discarded after forcing.
Our reading: the dark is the whole method. Everything else in the sheds, the warmth and the timing, serves it.
The candle
Both Wikipedia articles say the stalks are picked by candlelight. The Rhubarb Triangle article says “traditionally” pickers pull the stalks that way. The rhubarb article says that in the UK the first stalks of the year are picked by candlelight in forcing sheds where all other light is excluded. A candle gives enough light to see the stalks and, as the pages imply, too little to wake the plant. The articles do not spell that reasoning out, so treat it as our inference.
The season
The Triangle article says the harvest comes near the end of winter and is complete by the end of March. It does not give a start date, and we do not invent one. The rhubarb article says only that these are the first stalks of the year. If you are looking for the stalks in shops, that points to the cold months and not summer, but check locally, because the pages give no calendar.
A trade that shrank
Wikipedia says the area once held many hundreds of small farmers, smallholders and market gardeners. At the peak before 1939, up to 200 tons of rhubarb from up to 200 growers was carried away daily. The article also says that at one time West Yorkshire produced 90 per cent of the world’s winter forced rhubarb. It gives no current share and no current grower count, so we give none.
The protected name
Wikipedia says “Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb” received Protected Designation of Origin status in 2010. The page we read gives that year and nothing about the conditions behind it. We read no register entry, so we cannot say how the rules define the area, the sheds or the growers. For a buyer the useful point is narrow. The name is protected, and a label that says only “forced rhubarb” is a different claim. That is our reading of how protected names generally work, not a statement from either article.
A word on the leaves
Both Britannica and Wikipedia say the leaves contain oxalic acid and are not eaten. Wikipedia adds that the leaves hold anthrone glycosides, calling them poisonous, and that frost-damaged stalks should not be eaten either, because oxalic acid can move from the leaves into the stalks. That is a safety point from an encyclopaedia, and we give nothing beyond it.
Fruit or vegetable?
Wikipedia puts it in one line: rhubarb is a vegetable but is often put to the same culinary uses as fruits. The stalks are usually stewed with sugar and used in pies, crumbles and desserts. Britannica says the leafstalks are used in pies, often with strawberries, and in compotes and preserves.
Dates in order
- Early 1800s: the forcing method developed, according to Wikipedia.
- Before 1939: the peak, with up to 200 growers sending up to 200 tons daily, according to Wikipedia.
- 2010: Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb gains Protected Designation of Origin, according to Wikipedia.
Side by side
The two Wikipedia articles agree on the dark, the heated sheds and the candle. They disagree on the corner of the triangle, Rothwell or Leeds. Britannica adds nothing on Yorkshire at all, only the plant and the warning about leaves.
What kind of sources these are
Two Wikipedia articles, which anyone can edit, and one Britannica entry on the plant. We read no growers’ association page, no government register of protected names and no museum. The history and the 2010 date therefore rest on Wikipedia alone.
Questions a buyer would ask
Does the label say Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb in full? Is this forced rhubarb from the winter season or outdoor rhubarb from later in the year? Have the leaves been removed? We found no pack-size, price or storage advice in the pages we read and offer none.
What we left out
We left out the cold-hours figures the rhubarb article gives for field growing, because they concern a different crop method. We left out the national collection’s variety count and the American acreage. We left out all recipes and cooking times, because no page we read gave one. We also left out any claim about where to buy it.
Quick answers
Where is the Rhubarb Triangle? In West Yorkshire, between Wakefield, Morley and Rothwell, an area of 9 square miles, according to Wikipedia.
Why is forced rhubarb picked by candlelight? Wikipedia says the stalks are grown in complete darkness in heated sheds and traditionally picked by candlelight.
Has Yorkshire forced rhubarb got a protected name? According to Wikipedia, Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb received Protected Designation of Origin status in 2010.
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Roam first. Shop later.