Feel the force

Keen to get stuck into one of his favourite dishes, Toby considers the best ways to force an extra-early rhubarb crop

- Toby

TWENTY-twenty is so new that I’ve barely had time to break my resolutions! My pledge to avoid snacking between snacks has barely been tested, and I’m still ‘listening to what my body needs’ – and what it needs (make that ‘deserves’) is a generous helping of rhubarb crumble and custard.

January might be a Spartan time for homegrown pickings but, with a canny trick and some cold weather, it’s possible to grow an extra-early rhubarb crop long before the first forced stems arrive in the shops.