Stoney Road Gardens Association

Every year in early January, the more seasonally-aware food pages of British newspapers start waxing lyrical about rhubarb. To food writers desperately in search of something simple yet elegant to cleanse the nation’s jaded pallets after the annual Christmas blow-out, forced English rhubarb must seem like manna from Heaven. The startlingly pink straight stem, combined with the crumpled yellow leaves, and a taste that, unsweetened, would strip the enamel from your teeth, is in season from January to March, making it the perfect antidote to the excesses of the festive period.