Rhubarb Triangle

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West Yorkshire's location within England

The Rhubarb Triangle is a nine square mile triangle in West Yorkshire, England located between Wakefield, Morley and Rothwell. The Rhubarb Triangle is frequently referred to as being located between Leeds, Bradford and Wakefield but this 70 square mile triangle is eight times bigger than, and doesn't even geographically cover, the real Rhubarb Triangle.

Only a few decades ago, more than 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 United Kingdom 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 two-foot-long (60cm) stalks smooth textured and crimson. The pickers must pull the stalks in the dark as any exposure to light will stop the growth of all of the rhubarb. By the end of March the harvest is over and the root stock is totally exhausted.