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Head for England, Thursday May 5, to taste the rhubarb. If in France, the season is just beginning, its English cousin is already on the shelves. This is “forced” rhubarb, a protected designation of origin that is grown exclusively in candle-lit shelters.
By candlelight, the so-called “forced” rhubarbs grow religiously in Yorkshire (England). After three years outside, in the cold and damp earth, the plants have moved to a heated shed to complete their growth. “The rhubarb comes out of the roots upwards, because the leaves seek the light outside. So they grow very straight, very long”explains Lindsey Oldroy Hulme, director of Olroyd and Sons. The family farm has been using the same technique for five generations.
“When people enter here, they whisper as if they were in a church. It really is a special place”, explains Lindsey Oldroy Hulme. 200 tons are picked here every year. Harvesting is done during the winter. Rarer than classic rhubarb, the “forced” version is a specialty only eaten in the United Kingdom. There are only about ten producers left, compared to 200 70 years ago. However, the inhabitants remain proudly attached to this culture, and celebrate the plant every year during the rhubarb festival in Wakefield (England).