This month is the second of our #flavourfocus; a collection of recipes, blogs and interesting facts about our flavour of the month – which for May 2018 is our Rhubarb Milk Chocolate Bar! This creamy milk chocolate bar is infused with a gentle sweetness – and you may just find surprising, the delicacy of the rhubarb lingering on your palate once the milkiness of the chocolate itself settles. Our flavour blends are what makes our chocolate just that little bit different…
As part of #flavourfocus, we wanted to explore the flavours of our Rhubarb Milk Chocolate a bit more, so we have put together a collection of interesting facts about this delicious flavour that may take you by surprise!
1. Rhubarb is classed as a vegetable
Who’d have thought? But yes, it is true – According to LiveScience, “Botanically speaking, a fruit is a seed-bearing structure that develops from the ovary of a flowering plant, whereas vegetables are all other plant parts, such as roots, leaves and stems”; making Rhubarb a vegetable!
2. Music to your ears?
Did you know there’s a song dedicated to the vegetable called the “Rhubarb Tart Song,” featured on John Cleese and Graham Chapman’s pre-Monty Python sketch show, “At Last the 1948 Show”, set to the tune of Sousa’s “The Washington Post”? Seriously; listen to it – you’ll never look at Rhubarb in the same light again!
3. The Rhubarb Triangle
You’ve heard of the Bermuda triangle; well Yorkshire has its very own Rhubarb triangle – an area of approximately 9 square miles, where Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb is traditionally grown and harvested by candlelight in “forcing sheds”. In 2010, Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb was granted protected name status, and joined a list of Europe’s specially-protected food and drinks alongside other famous foods such as Champagne, and Parma Ham.
4. Medicinal Purposes
Rhubarb has a long history of herbal usage in Chinese medicine, and is known to have a positive, balancing effect upon the digestive system.
5. For the home hairdressers…
We’ve heard of lemon as a hair dye, but never Rhubarb! Untested by us (so you can’t blame us if you try this), it is said that rhubarb can be a fairly strong dye that can create a golden hair colour for those whose hair is blonde or light brown.
So, there you have 5 funs facts about Rhubarb! A vegetable which over recent years has become increasingly popular in the UK due to consumers growing interest in British produce, and the explosion of the artisan Gin market.