Good to see that action is being taken to encourage use of British 'fruit' rather than importing exotic (and often tasteless) fruits from all round the world.
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Forced indoor rhubarb growers in Yorkshire want protected EU status
for the vegetable, as my colleague Martin Wainwright reported this
week in the Guardian. If successful, Yorkshire indoor rhubarb would
join a prestigious list that includes Parma ham, Normandy Camembert
and Newcastle Brown Ale. But what exactly makes their rhubarb
special? The colour is pink or scarlet and the white flesh sweet and
fragrant. Very different from the stringy, tough stuff that used to
be stewed and served up with dollops of custard when I was a child.
Janet Oldroyd, who is making the application for Protected Designation
of Origin status, says the 12 producers in the Yorkshire Rhubarb
Triangle - between Leeds, Bradford and Wakefield - will face a
struggle to survive without EU recognition. "It will help the
growers. It ensures we've got a future."
At the end of the second world war there were 200 rhubarb growers, but
competition from exotic foreign fruit, a sweeter national tooth and
confusion with the less pleasant outdoor variety badly affected its
indoor cousin. During the forcing process, rhubarb roots are
cultivated outdoors for two years before being moved into special
sheds to grow in the dark. On the Oldroyd farm in Crofton, it is
harvested by candlelight, with each stalk wrapped in plastic to
prevent damage to the precious crop.
Now rhubarb is enjoying a resurgence, but the growers are worried
about competition from inferior Dutch indoor rhubarb.
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