Rhubarb Triangle

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The Rhubarb Triangle is an area located between Pontefract, Wakefield and Leeds.

Only a few decades ago, over 90% of the world's forced rhubarb crop was grown in this small area. Here rhubarb grows in forcing sheds while it is still winter, preceding the crop grown out-of-doors. There is even a rhubarb festival each February. Rhubarb flourished in this part of the country because it seems to have had the ideal combination of conditions necessary to cultivate rhubarb on a large scale. These included:

suitable soil,
sufficient rainfall,
supplies of soot and ash to condition the soil,
cheap fuel to heat the sheds,
large numbers of small market gardeners.

Forced rhubarb grown in these sheds is deemed to be much more tender than that grown outdoors in Summer. Without daylight the rhubarb leaves are an anaemic green yellow, and the 2ft-long stalks smooth textured and crimson. The pickers must pull the stalks in the dark; any exposure to light will stop the growth of all the rhubarb. By the end of March the harvest is over and the root stock is totally exhausted.