Supplier Stories: Tomlinson’s Yorkshire Rhubarb

Supplier Stories: Tomlinson’s Yorkshire Rhubarb

If you visit a Bettys Café Tea Room or shop over the next few weeks, you’ll have the chance to delight in the fruits of Yorkshire’s brief forced rhubarb season: a harvest so prized that the crop enjoys Protected Designation of Origin alongside Champagne and Stilton. But what makes these tender pink stems so special? We visited Tomlinson’s Yorkshire Rhubarb farm and found enlightenment inside a dark shed.

A force of nature

Meet Robert Tomlinson, affectionately known as ‘Rhubarb Robert’. He’s a fourth generation rhubarb farmer whose family have been growing rhubarb at Pudsey, in West Yorkshire’s famed ‘Rhubarb Triangle’, for over 140 years and have supplied it to Bettys for more than a decade.

Yorkshire forced rhubarb spends its first two years outside, lapping up the sunlight and storing energy in its roots. The roots are then brought indoors to the forcing shed during winter. Then throughout January something magical happens. Kept in total darkness at a temperature of exactly 13 degrees Centigrade, beautiful pink stalks begin to shoot up thinking it’s spring. Inside the forcing sheds, you can even hear the crackling and creaking as they search for sunlight.

As photosynthesis from sunshine raises the levels of oxalic acid that gives mature rhubarb its sharp taste, the young rhubarb stalks are picked by candlelight. This also means that previous seasons’ sugars that were stored in the roots go to the stems, resulting in a much sweeter and more tender stalk than those that have been grown outside.

Short but sweet: catch our rhubarb specials

At Bettys, we use Tomlinson’s lovingly nurtured pink stems for all of our rhubarb dishes. The forced rhubarb season may be short – from February until late March – but each year our Yorkshire Rhubarb Crumble returns like a beloved friend to the menu in our Café Tea Rooms. The poached Yorkshire rhubarb topped with deliciously crunchy gingerbread crumble is served with vanilla ice cream – perfect for those chilly winter months.

Visit our five Bettys shops and you’ll also find the classic combination of rhubarb and almonds in our rhubarb frangipane tart: a sweet butter pastry filled with a moist almond frangipane filling and topped with Yorkshire rhubarb and a sprinkling of ginger crumble.

For a truly indulgent treat, try our new Yorkshire Rhubarb & Ginger Sundae, made with poached Yorkshire rhubarb, vanilla ice cream, crunchy gingerbread crumble and whipped cream. But you needn’t feel guilty at all: our gingerbread crumb is made using the off-cuts remaining after our scrumptious Yorkshire Gingerbread is sliced into pieces. So by tucking in, you’re helping reduce food waste while also enjoying a true local Yorkshire delicacy.