FORCED CHANGE: Special status for Yorkshire rhubarb

YORKSHIRE Forced Rhubarb is today ranked alongside Champagne and Parma ham after being placed on a list of speciality European foods.

Defra Secretary and MP for Leeds Central Hilary Benn will today announce that Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb has been awarded Protected Designation of Origin status by the European Commission’s Protected Food Name scheme.

It follows recommendations by Defra to the EC and will mean it is illegal to describe Yorkshire rhubarb as being so unless it was grown here.

Mr Benn said: “Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb has been recognised thanks to the quality of this traditionally grown product and the enthusiasm and commitment shown by all involved.”

Forced rhubarb is famously grown and harvested by candlelight in an area known as the rhubarb triangle between Bradford, Wakefield and Leeds

Celebrating the good news, Janet Oldroyd, of the Yorkshire Rhubarb Growers Association, said: “To the 12 growers left in the rhubarb triangle a future is now certain. To the hundreds of farmers long since gone this is in part recognition of their hard work, dedication and steadfast belief in their product that has kept this industry alive since the early 1950s.”

Gary Verity, chief executive of the official tourism agency for the region, Welcome to Yorkshire, said it would put Yorkshire rhubarb on the cultural map.