More than seventy years after ‘rhubarb mania’ gripped pre-war Britain, the fruity vegetable is the subject of a renaissance.
benhealth reports on the superfood scientists believe may even fight cancer.
Many a child brought up in the mid 20th century will remember eating sticks of rhubarb dipped in sugar – a kind of healthier homemade version of the shop- bought sherbet dip dab.
By the 1950s and 60s however, popularity of the pink vegetable – often mistaken for a fruit because of its wide use in desserts and wines – was already on the wane.
Having enjoyed celebrity status before World War II – dubbed ‘rhubarb mania’ by author Clifford M Foust – the post-war years mapped a demise, largely blamed on sugar rationing, from which it never really recovered, until now.
In the foodie noughties and teenies, rhubarb – grown outdoors, in greenhouses, or forced in dark sheds – features in many a TV cookery programme and in every superchef recipe book worth its salt. Consumer trends toward more seasonal and locally produced food, combined with active pursuit of evermore interesting ways to achieve ‘five–a-day’, have given the humble vegetable a new lease of life in the form of crumbles, pies, jams, cheeses, wines, cordials, yoghurts, fools, compotes, ice-creams, chutneys and even rhubarb chicken (a bit like having apple sauce with your pork).
The medical benefits of rhubarb
But the resurgence in interest isn’t only culinary – it’s medicinal too. In actual fact, rhubarb’s main role historically has been in medicine, beginning at least 5,000 years ago with the Chinese who used their oriental variety to cure a variety of ailments including gut, lung and liver problems. Rhubarb roots were also an ingredient in numerous remedies of the ancient Greeks and Romans, making it one of the oldest superfoods on the block.
It is high in calcium, vitamin C and potassium which is good for your heart. Studies have linked the fibre from rhubarb in the diet with reduced cholesterol levels. The latest news is that it may even help prevent cancer.
Scientists at Sheffield Hallam University have found that baking rhubarb for 20 minutes actually boosts its already high levels of polyphenols, recognised for their anti-carcinogenic qualities. The researchers are now hoping to discover the best combination of rhubarb polyphhenols and chemotherapy agents needed to kill leukemia cells.
Dr Nikki Jordan-Mahy, of Sheffield Hallam’s biomedical research centre, said: “Current treatments are not effective in all cancers and resistance is a common problem, so it’s very important to discover novel, less toxic treatments, which can overcome resistance. Our research has shown that British rhubarb is a potential source of pharmacological agents that may be used to develop new anti-cancerous drugs.”
Yorkshire rhubarb
The rhubarb used in the Sheffield studies is not however any old garden variety, it is a very special Yorkshire vegetable grown in darkened sheds and harvested by candlelight in a spellbinding process dating back to 1877.
In fact Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb is such a gourmet crop that it has just won legislative protection against imitation throughout Europe. Its EU Protected Food Name (PFN) status, announced in February, means that only rhubarb grown using the traditional forced farming method and produced in the famous Yorkshire Rhubarb Triangle between Leeds, Bradford and Wakefield can legally bear the name Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb.
Benefits include having its own status logo to help customers distinguish the genuine article from inferior rhubarbs on the market. For grower Janet Oldroyd Hulme – the fourth of five generations of rhubarb growers at E Oldroyd & Sons and the woman dubbed “the high priestess of rhubarb” in the UK media - the accreditation is international acknowledgement for a significant British food.
Janet said: “Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb was once produced by more than 200 independent growers, but is now farmed by a diehard breed of just 12. Our method involves letting the rhubarb roots, or crowns, live outside for two years and be subjected to frost to build energy in the root system before lifting them from the ground and taking them into the low, dark forcing sheds where they are kept warm and moist as the shoots form.
“When we apply heat in the sheds, the rhubarb starts to grow quickly because it is looking for light. You can actually hear the buds bursting as they strain upwards and, by the time we harvest the crop by candlelight, the sticks of rhubarb are tender, sweeter, more delicately flavoured and more brightly coloured than rhubarb grown outside.”
Janet, who organises daily tours of the candlelit sheds, was recently invited to promote the product at Harrods.
Being awarded PFN status is a high day for her and the others farmers whose hard work, dedication and steadfastness kept the industry alive after rhubarb went out of fashion in the 1950s. They are now able to reap the rewards of a rhubarb renaissance which, it seems, may even help keep the population in the pink.
Forced rhubarb has bright pink stalks and yellowish leaves and usually appears in January, February and into March, with the outdoor field-grown variety replacing it around April.
Described by many as ‘champagne rhubarb’, Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb has won praise from Nigella Lawson, Anthony Worrall Thompson, Jamie Oliver, Phil Vickery, James Martin, Brian Turner and Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall and E Oldroyd & Sons is listed as a Rick Stein Food Hero Producer.
Janet Oldroyd Hulme has tried just about every rhubarb dish you can think of, but the way she cooks it at home in Carlton, between Leeds and Wakefield, is the simplest, healthiest and most versatile of all.
Chop 400g (14oz) of rhubarb into chunks, pop it in a pan, cover with fresh orange juice and boil until soft. It’s healthier not to add any sweetener, but if the sweetness of the fruit is not sufficient, you can add not more than 25g (1oz) of sugar to taste.
Janet said: “I enjoy the mixture every morning with cereal and yoghurt for breakfast, but it has many uses. You can put it through a nylon sieve and uses the flesh for pies and crumbles, you can puree it as an accompaniment for the Sunday roast or oily fish, and you can use the juice to make rhubarb meringue pies, jellies, fools and flavouring for ice cream – the possibilities are endless...”
This article first appeared in issue 11 of benhealth, the magazine for Benenden Healthcare members.
Other ideas for healthy meals
You might be interested to read Benenden Healthcare's other healthy eating recipes, including cranberry spiced porridge, apple recipes, a healthy salmon recipe and a tasty stir fry.
