RHUBARB holds a particular fascination to me ever since I read about the romance that is the Yorkshire geographic triangle renowned for 'forcing' it.

At the centre of The Rhubarb Triangle is the village of Carlton, trisected by Wakefield, Leeds and Bradford, where increased chefs' interest in this tasty vegetable has ensured the survival of a handful of Yorkshire forcing sheds.

It is there where pickers of yore, in leather hats bedecked with candles to minimise light, picked the harvest from giant crowns brought inside to produce tender, fuchsia pink delicious stems.

Forced rhubarb has a tangy, sherbert-like flavour and a delicate texture.

It is a pole apart from the harsher-flavoured, somewhat tougher vegetable it becomes when it basks in the sunshine.

I have just moved crowns of my two varieties, Champagne and Victoria, from my allotment to my embryonic new veg patch.

Champagne, a classic old thin-stemmed variety, is best for forcing.

Victoria, another oldster, has greenish-pink stems with tender flesh and an excellent balance of sweetness and acidity.

Crowns of most varieties will be available for planting in the next few weeks and will produce good crops in a couple of years.

When crowns become established they can be split with a spade to produce new plants.

Rhubarb likes rich, well-drained, soil and can be planted at any time of year, spaced 3ft apart.

Keep weed free and water well during dry spells.

Avoid harvesting in the first year and only lightly in the second.

When growth dies down in the autumn generously mulch the crown with well-rotted manure.

It's worth having a few plants, enabling you to rotate forcing because the technique takes a lot of energy out of the crown.

To force, cover the crowns shortly after Christmas with a light-excluding container, removing it when cropping is over and after enjoying crumble — or maybe rhubarb champagne after which my favourite variety was named.

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