To expect to be able to buy British rhubarb in the British rhubarb season?

[gaelicsheep]

Another Tesco rant I'm afraid. £3.29 for a pack of rhubarb from Holland!! What happened to Yorkshire rhubarb FGS?! I feel like I'm living in a culinary backwater. GRRRRR! It is the season for forced rhubarb, right?

Alright then, let's put it another way. AIBU to care?

YANBU, that it utterly ridiculous. Only what I've come to expect from Tesco though. Try a market or greengrocers instead.

Market? Greengrocers? Do such things exist?! (Not here they don't)

Yep it's forced I'm thinking of ScreaminEagle. A British speciality food and all that. I really really look forward to rhubarb at this time of year and I'm gutted I can't find any. Perhaps it just isn't a Scottish thing.

Yes they do exist, but I have to travel about 10 miles to find one here

I'm not being fair really. There is a farmer's market that circulates but it's the same old usual suspects at every market and in every farmshop in the whole area. Forced rhubarb definitely isn't a local thing (but I would feel no guilt if I was at least buying from the UK) and the growing season for anything up here doesn't really start properly until June. I really have no idea where the closest greengrocer is - there isn't one in town that I've ever found. It's really crap round here for fresh food actually - it's the one thing I really really regret about moving north.

But Yorkshire Rhubarb is forced. I live on the edge of the "Rhubarb Triangle" and you can;t move for the stuff here. I drive passed acres and acres of it on the way to work.

I know it is! That's why I'm shocked I can't get any (other than from Holland) as it's so clearly in season!

GS - don't be so hard on the poor rhubarb. It has just survived the longest, coldest winter in 30 years and is having a bit of a lie-in. Mine has just started to sprout this week. I will enjoy it even more with an extra bit of waiting.

But Yorkshire forced rhubarb is supposed to be available from late December to late March - BikeRunSki confirms that there is plenty available. So why is Tesco selling forced rhubarb from Holland?!

There was British forced rhubarb in my local(ish) Sainsburys,near Glasgow,the other day.

Sadly I think it's probably a Tesco/Highland thing (or non-thing).

I've never had a problem finding greengrocers or farmer's markets here, but I am in the central belt.

How far north are you?

As I said before, there are farmers markets (of sorts), but it's like a supermarket chain of farm shops and markets all selling the same old stuff. All value-added packaged produce from the same Highland-wide producers, not just plain food. Of course it WBVU to expect Yorkshire forced rhubarb in a farmshop selling local produce, but there were hardly any vegetables available at all today in either of the local farm shops, which is a bit surprising to say the least.

I am very much missing having a garden where I can grow my own produce, even if I couldn't start until May or June (I now have an infertile bog - nice!). I think it's the only thing I really miss and it's a major consideration for moving house in a couple of years.

Not far from Inverness. Actually regarding my comment on local vegetables, thinking about it, and to be fair, it has apparently been the coldest winter since 1914.

That might explain it.

You'll have to move down here in order to get your rhubarb/greengrocer fix.

i'm on the south coast, and our rhubarb is nothing but a red twinkle in the still-frosty ground. so YABU - it's not rhubarb season yet!

You might just be right. It's a shame I can't do my job remotely really. But then I'd miss - what exactly? Not the baltic winters that's for sure! Ah yes - lack of traffic, there's one. DH and I were one our way back from the doctors yesterday and commented on what a busy road it was - we met about 15 cars in 10 miles!!

I'm talking about forced rhubarb EggyAllanPoe (for the umpteeth time!) The kind grown in sheds in West Yorkshire (as opposed to sheds in Holland). The kind that's lovely and tender, not tough and stringy.

I think perhaps I need to get out more . I just hate Tesco and their apparent policy of stocking food from absolutely anywhere in the world except the UK.