Not everything is grown out under the sun. One of them is forced rhubarb.
A collection of these old ads reminded me of the Rhubarb triangle, which is a real place. I used to live on the fringes for a few years and pass through it regularly, past Oldroyd's.
In 1877 the forcing of rhubarb began in Yorkshire, the first place in the world to construct special forcing sheds. Cheap coal from local mines heated the forcing sheds which helped produce rhubarb early in the year when fresh fruit was scarce. West Yorkshire once produced 90% of the world’s winter forced rhubarb.
Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/36844288@N00/51247578769/in/pool-1108828@N23/
https://www.slowfood.org.uk/ff-products/yorkshire-forced-rhubarb/
When I was younger, we had a big rhubarb patch at my parents' house, and a treat used to be sticks of rhubarb which were cut into short pieces and then dipped into granulated sugar... wonder why my teeth are so terrible.
And remember this classic by Grange Calveley, directed by Bob Godfrey and voiced by Richard Briers.
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