Rhubarb is enjoying an unexpected renaissance, with UK sales doubling in the last year.
After years of relative obscurity among younger generations, the red stick vegetable, commonly mistaken for a fruit, is being snapped up by high-end restaurants and celebrity chefs.
And now consumers are latching onto the craze following reports of its “superfood” properties.
Rhubarb is low in carbohydrates, high in vitamins and is thought to speed up metabolism and aid weight loss.
It is also a fixture among British food lovers, evoking national pride alongside the cauliflower and parsnip.
Morrisons has seen sales of rhubarb jump by 100 per cent since last year - the fastest growth seen in the category.
According to Morrisons spokeswoman Claire Taylor, the chain sold enough of it in January alone to fill a crumble the size of an Olympic swimming pool.
Crumble, however, has been demoted by top chefs in the drive to use the vegetable in more creative ways, such as rhubarb brulée, rhubarb sorbet, rhubarb smoothie or marinated in vodka to make a tangy shot.
Meanwhile Yorkshire piemakers have branched out with the introduction of rhubarb and pork pies
Janet Oldroyd-Hume, a grower from the traditional rhubarb-producing region of Wakefield said the family business has grown rhubarb for four generations but around 10 years ago, sales had become so poor it nearly ceased production altogether.
Oldroyd-Hume, said: “Business has been growing for the last 10 years, after years before that when we could only continue to grow rhubarb thanks to the other veg and fruit we grew.”
