February can be the dullest of months in the kitchen but there’s the occasional glimpse that spring is about be sprung upon us, perhaps the first being the delicate pink shoots of forced rhubarb.
Forcing is in essence, subjecting a plant to both heat and darkness so that the new shoots grow quickly in a desperate search for light. In the case of rhubarb, this has fostered what has to be one of the strangest sights in British farming.
The plants, which have grown outside and remained un-cropped for two seasons, are transported into long, low sheds in an area of West Yorkshire known as the ‘Wakefield Triangle’ and harvested by candlelight. The rhubarb grows with such force in the four to six weeks that it’s buds audibly pop when opening.
The local cocktail of heavy soils, inclement weather, close transport links, access to coal for heating sheds and, strangely, slightly acidic rain from industry have combined to make this agriculturally poor area the centre of rhubarb growing in the UK.
This industry was of such importance in the mid 1900’s that a ‘rhubarb express’ train was used to carry hundreds of tonnes of the crop south in the growing season and was as eagerly awaited as other seasonal delicacies like asparagus, strawberries and grouse. A combination of poor image, expense due to the labour intensiveness of growing and encroachment of foreign exotic fruits have shrunken the market for this fruit over recent years but it remains one of the finest fruits.
If you want to buy British and seasonal fruit at this time of year it remains your only option.
Here’s how we serve it at The Mill Tea & Dining Room.

Rhubarb and Bramley Charlotte

There’s some dispute over the origins of the title of this pudding but most believe it was named in honour of Queen Charlotte, the wife of George III who was a keen supporter of apple growers. A strict recipe is not to be followed on this one as cooking vessels differ and it is always far better to master a method than a single recipe.

You will need rhubarb, apples, caster sugar, vanilla, sliced bread that’s a few days old, butter and a suitable cooking vessel. We use individual portion sized rings at the restaurant but a proper pudding dish or a metal bowl is more traditional.

Take roughly equal quantities of peeled and diced Bramley apple and diced rhubarb and toss with sugar. How much or how little depends on personal taste but I prefer my sweets to be just that. Sweet.
Pop your sugared fruit into a pan with a few tablespoons of water and some vanilla, cover with a lid and place on a low heat, cook until the fruit is soft and then allow to cool.
Take your bread, cut the crusts off and spread with butter, dip the buttered side in more sugar and place this side down in your bowl.
Repeat this process, slightly overlapping each slice until your bowl is lined. Fill with your rhubarb and apple mix and then top in the same manner with more buttered bread, this time with the sugared side upward.
Place into a hot oven until golden brown, hot and bubbling pink juice.
Allow to cool slightly and turn out onto a plate. Serve with custard, cream or ice cream.

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