Rhubarb forcer
{{Short description|Agricultural tool}}Image:Terracotta rhubarb forcers.jpg
Rhubarb forcers are bell-shaped pots with a lidded opening at the top, used to cover rhubarb to limit photosynthesis. They encourage the plant to grow early in the season and also to produce blanched stems which are sweeter and more tender than usual.{{Cite web |title=How to grow rhubarb |url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/vegetables/rhubarb/grow-your-own |access-date=2025-03-15 |website=RHS |language=en-gb}} The pots are placed over two- to three-year-old rhubarb crowns during winter or very early spring. Once shoots appear, the lid is taken off, causing them to grow towards the light.{{cite news |last=Amos |first=Sharon |date=2002-02-02 |title=Go with the throw |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/main.jhtml?xml=/gardening/2002/02/02/grhucon.xml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20130308205933/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/gardenprojects/3297094/Go-with-the-throw.html |archive-date=2013-03-08 |accessdate=2008-10-07 |work=Telegraph.co.uk |publisher=Telegraph Media Group |location=London}}
Around {{convert|18|in|cm}} high and {{convert|14|in|cm}} wide without the lid, they are traditionally made of terracotta but can be as simple as an upside-down plastic bucket.{{Cite web |last= |date=2019-08-28 |title=How to force rhubarb |url=https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/grow-plants/how-to-force-rhubarb/ |access-date=2025-03-15 |website=www.gardenersworld.com |language=en-GB}}
History
The use of rhubarb forcers dates back to the early 1800s, when the forcing technique was developed in the United Kingdom.{{Cite journal |last=Lee |first=MR |last2=Hutcheon |first2=J |last3=Dukan |first3=E |last4=Milne |first4=I |date=2017-03-01 |title=Rhubarb (Rheum Species): The Role of Edinburgh in Its Cultivation and Development |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.4997/jrcpe.2017.121 |journal=Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh |language=en |volume=47 |issue=1 |pages=102–109 |doi=10.4997/jrcpe.2017.121 |issn=1478-2715|url-access=subscription }} The Chelsea Physic Garden takes credit for the discovery, claiming that one of their gardeners found some rhubarb growing underneath a bucket and realized the potential of the technique.{{Cite web |title=History of Chelsea Physic Garden |url=https://www.chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk/about/history/ |access-date=2025-03-15 |website=Chelsea Physic Garden |language=en-GB}} This led eventually to the implementation and widespread use of rhubarb forcing in an area of West Yorkshire known as the Rhubarb Triangle, where farmers use entire sheds to block the daylight rather than individual pots.{{Cite web |last=Buhay |first=Corey |date=2024-04-16 |title=The English farmers who harvest rhubarb by candlelight |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/the-english-farmers-who-harvest-rhubarb-by-candlelight-180984141/ |access-date=2025-03-15 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}}
See also
References
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External links
- {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20100706114532/http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/forcing Forcing rhubarb in winter]}}
- [http://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/grow-plants/how-to-force-rhubarb/ How to force rhubarb]
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