NewsBeat
Rhubarb Festival begins in Yorkshire with events for all
A FESTIVAL celebrating Yorkshire’s ‘special crop’ kicks off today in honour of all things rhubarb.
The Rhubarb Festival celebrating Wakefield’s heritage crop will deliver a weekend of food, drink, family activity and discovery across the city to honour the pink vegetable.
Yes, it’s a veg not fruit. The delicate pink spears push up through the rich soil inside dark forcing sheds within the rhubarb triangle in West Yorkshire. The sweet, tender stems are harvested by candlelight in near pitch black in February.
At the heart of the festivities is the Food & Drink Market of 50 traders, in chalet-lined streets selling speciality cheese, jams and gins to brownies, beer and chocolate.
Photo of the popular Rhubarb Festival
Many of the regional and local produce come with a rhubarb twist.
Watch chef demos where the professionals reveal how to make delicious recipes with the vegetable.
Local musicians will play live in the Rhu-Bar, while Ruby Rhubarb and the Rhubarb Fairy perform street entertainment.
In partnership with Wakefield BID, the Rhubarb Food & Drink Trail returns with local bars, restaurants and cafés serving limited-edition rhubarb delights.
Pink and perfect – rhubarb is a jewel in Yorkshire’s foodie crown
Traders include North Chocolate, Forever Fudge, Livs Bakes n Cakes, preserves from A Sticky Situation and Cherry Tree Yorkshire, Rhucello for liqueurs, spirits from Hawkin’s Distillery, Prohibition Distillery and Forged Spirits, and beer from Bier Huis. Stop by E Oldroyds & Sons and pick up pies, crumbles, jams, chutneys and fresh forced rhubarb.
Discover more about the heritage of this prized Yorkshire crop and why it’s important to local history at Wakefield Museum at a hands-on workshop, and sow rhubarb seeds on Friday, February 20 with sessions at 10am-12pm and 1pm-3pm.
The Rhubarb Festival is organised by Wakefield Council with events taking place across the city from February 20-22.
More at: experiencewakefield.co.uk/event/rhubarb-festival