Farm1 wrote:
"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
[...]
you can't really
afford to offer stems with green on them for sale.

I have bought some with green on the upper part of the stems and I'll
quite happily pick my own that way too.

A small producer of
anything, whether rhubarb or cars, has to aim up-market. The UK
commercial boys grow the crowns outdoors, and then bring them on to
cropping in dark sheds -- in which it's said you can actually hear
them
grow! (I think the sound is of the buds breaking their papery
covering.)

I must admit that when I've seen articles on the Yorkshire??? rhubarb
houses, I've always been quite astounded at the investment. Rhubarb
is such an easy plant to grow that I've always wondered why they
bother. I can't really imagine that growing rhubarb which is a
delightful foodstuff could be all that mush improved by growing it
indoors. Either I just don't get it or there must be some
climate/location differences involved. A friend has told me that
forced rhubarb is worth trying so I've give it a go next spring but it
had better be knock your socks off better or I won't bother to do it
more than once.

Yes, most of the UK growers are in Yorks. Passing Wakefield on the
M'way you see fields of it, which for some reason I always find
amusing. It isn't so much about climate or temp, as rhubarb is a cool
temperate crop -- they even grow it in the Faroes -- it really is
mainly about the darkness, so they get pure pink tender stems.

The only times I've bothered to try the darkness treatment I've used
those square black 25-litre dairy hypochlorite "drums" with the bottom
sawn off. (I've lost count of the number of ways to use those things:
sawn in half lengthways for pig troughs, crossways for tomato tubs,
floats for carnival rafts, and so on and on.)

--
Mike.

Mike Lyle writes

Yes, most of the UK growers are in Yorks. Passing Wakefield on the
M'way you see fields of it, which for some reason I always find
amusing. It isn't so much about climate or temp, as rhubarb is a cool
temperate crop -- they even grow it in the Faroes -- it really is
mainly about the darkness, so they get pure pink tender stems.

Isn't it also about earliness? Yes, you can grow outside it all over the
UK, but certainly Yorkshire it's more of an early summer crop than a
spring crop, and moving it earlier into spring hits that gap before the
cheap soft fruits arrive.
--
Kay

K wrote:
Mike Lyle writes

Yes, most of the UK growers are in Yorks. Passing Wakefield on the
M'way you see fields of it, which for some reason I always find
amusing. It isn't so much about climate or temp, as rhubarb is a cool
temperate crop -- they even grow it in the Faroes -- it really is
mainly about the darkness, so they get pure pink tender stems.

Isn't it also about earliness? Yes, you can grow outside it all over the
UK, but certainly Yorkshire it's more of an early summer crop than a
spring crop, and moving it earlier into spring hits that gap before the
cheap soft fruits arrive.

Yes, that must be at least as important as quality, as with any market
crop: I have fantasies of The Great Rhubarb Race, like the old tea and
wool clippers! "Eh, lad! Put thy back into it! I'll not 'ave me nose
wiped by yon Sidebottom like last year!"

I wonder if the crowns from the sheds are discarded afterwards, as with
forced rhubarb. I'd love to visit one of the sheds and try to hear the
buds breaking.

--
Mike.

"Mike Lyle" wrote in message

.. Passing Wakefield on the
M'way you see fields of it, which for some reason I always find
amusing.

:-)) Is the term "rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb" used in the UK? Much
better than the "yada, yada yada" which seems to have become popular
since Seinfeld hit the small screen.

It isn't so much about climate or temp, as rhubarb is a cool
temperate crop -- they even grow it in the Faroes -- it really is
mainly about the darkness, so they get pure pink tender stems.

But what of the taste? Is it significantly different to the field
grown stuff?

The only times I've bothered to try the darkness treatment I've used
those square black 25-litre dairy hypochlorite "drums" with the
bottom
sawn off. (I've lost count of the number of ways to use those
things:
sawn in half lengthways for pig troughs, crossways for tomato tubs,
floats for carnival rafts, and so on and on.)

I couldn't live without those type of drums (mine are from glass
cleaner)! I use then with a tap just dripping to sit beside plants
that need more water, I've cut the top off some to use as chook
nesting boxes, I've cut the tops of some to use as big "hands" for
collecting Autumn leaves, I've cut an L shaped bit from the top and a
side so I can use it as a carrier for small tools. I've used them to
soak things in etc, etc - wonderful (free) resouce.

Farm1 wrote:
"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
[...]
It isn't so much about climate or temp, as rhubarb is a cool
temperate crop -- they even grow it in the Faroes -- it really is
mainly about the darkness, so they get pure pink tender stems.

But what of the taste? Is it significantly different to the field
grown stuff?
[...]

I've never bought rhubarb in my life, but I imagine it's the same as
home-grown blanched: milder flavour, less acid.

--
Mike.