Is there anything better than a bowl of piping hot stewed rhubarb served with lashings of freshly-made custard? There certainly isn’t much… Rhubarb has long been a popular plant to grow in British gardens, producing brightly-coloured stems and delivering tart, tangy flavour which is well-suited to desserts like crumbles and fools.

There’s plenty of variation from variety to variety, and in this post we’ll be discerning which rhubarb is best for which situation, including questions on forcing, harvest time and flavour. If you’re short on time, we’d recommend ‘Victoria’ as the best all-rounder. A traditional variety that’s been around for well over one hundred years, ‘Victoria’ reliably boasts good quantities of delicious stems with excellent colour.

Jump to:

• What is the best rhubarb for forcing?
• What is the best rhubarb for early fruiting?
• Which rhubarb produces the highest yield?
• Which rhubarb is the sweetest?
• Which rhubarb is the most reliable?
• Which rhubarb has the best colour?
• How do you force rhubarb?
• Rhubarb recipes

What is the best rhubarb variety for forcing?

'Timperley Early' Rhubarb Plant

If you want to force your rhubarb, look no further than ‘Timperley Early’. Earlier rhubarb varieties are the best for forcing and many have been bred specifically with that purpose in mind. As its name suggests, ‘Timperley Early’ is one of the earliest varieties and responds very well to forcing. Honourable mentions go to a couple of other popular early varieties: ‘Champagne’ and ‘Victoria’.

What rhubarb variety is early fruiting?

'Champagne' Rhubarb Plant

Asking us to pick our favourite early rhubarb is a bit like asking a parent to choose their favourite child. In the end, when push came to shove, we opted for ‘Champagne’, an early variety whose celebratory name is well-deserved given what a brilliant cultivar it is. If we’re talking about conventional growing, rather than forcing, then you can expect to harvest your ‘Champagne’ rhubarb from April.

Which rhubarb variety produces the highest yields?

‘Goliath’ Rhubarb Plant

Mighty by both name and nature, ‘Goliath’ is one seriously hefty rhubarb variety. Once your rhubarb plants have fully established, you can expect to harvest a staggering five kilograms of edible rhubarb per individual ‘Goliath’ crown. Just think of all the crumble you could make with that… ‘Victoria’ also produces reliably good yields, with the individual stems boasting excellent thickness.

Which rhubarb variety is the sweetest?

‘Victoria’ Rhubarb Plant

There’s a reason sometimes that the classics stay classics and ‘Victoria’ is a rhubarb to prove that point. While there are many more modern cultivars available on the market, few can hold a candle to this heritage variety. Its stems sport exceptional flavour with great levels of sweetness and relatively mild tartness compared with other, more astringent rhubarbs.

What is the most reliable rhubarb variety?

‘Fulton’s Strawberry Surprise’ Rhubarb Plant

An RHS award winner, ‘Fulton’s Strawberry Surprise’ has been shown to perform particularly well in British gardens, boasting great flavour alongside its reliability. Add to that its vigorous nature and brightly-coloured stems and you’re left with a pretty stellar plant, overall. So, if you want a rhubarb that knows exactly how to be a good rhubarb? This is the plant for you.

Which rhubarb variety has the best colour?

‘Raspberry Red’ Rhubarb Plant

With a name like ‘Raspberry Red’ you’d be hoping for some pretty colourful rhubarb. Luckily for you, you’d be right! This rhubarb has some of the brightest-coloured stems out there, which contrast beautifully with the lush light green foliage. This rhubarb will also retain much of its colour when cooked. ‘Champagne’ also produces good colour. Bear in mind that, if you’re forcing your rhubarb, you’re unlikely to get as good a colour on your rhubarb as you would harvesting normally later in the year.

How do you force rhubarb?

We’ve previously written a complete, step-by-step guide to forcing rhubarb, but the basics involve growing your rhubarb plant(s) under a cloche or cover, and thus concealing the plant within darkness. This results in a faster-growing plant with sweeter, thinner stems that can be harvested as early as February.

Rhubarb recipe ideas

While most people associate rhubarb with either crumble or stewing and serving with custard, there are so many amazing different ways you can prepare your harvested crop. Take rhubarb jam, for instance; needing nothing but sugar, lemon juice and your rhubarb (as well as a couple of vanilla pods if you want to be really fancy), this sticky jam works wonderfully spread on toast or mixed through your morning porridge. Or how about rhubarb served with some pork chops? The tart flavour really punches through and comes to the fore in this dish, complementing the salty, savoury taste of the pork brilliantly.

Final thoughts

Rhubarb is something we advise everyone to grow at least once in their lives, if for no other reason than they look fabulous with their big, broad leaves and happily-hued stems. Be sure to check out our recipe playlist on YouTube to make more of the produce you harvest at home. Now, if you’ll excuse me, there’s a couple of gallons of custard calling…