New display by the Children in Care Council

We have recently installed a new display in The Wall @ Create café display space. We are very proud to be hosting the We are… exhibition by the Children in Care Council.

The We are... exhibition in Create café

We are... features work produced by and on behalf of care-experienced young people from the Wakefield District.

Children live in care away from their birth families for many reasons. This can cause significant trauma and barriers. 

We Are… is an invitation to listen, understand, and stand together with the young people of our care-experienced community.

One of the artworks on display

The Children in Care Council:

• Work with adults to help them understand and support young people
• Co-produce celebration events such as the Care4Us Awards and Care Leavers’ Week
• Enjoy a range of participation activities

Get to know the young care-experienced community in their video introducing the We are… exhibition.

The exhibition was first displayed at Anglers Country Park in 2024. A selection of the works is now on display in the Create café in Wakefield One, 10 March to 16 May 2025. 

Some of the photos in the display show the young people taking part in forest-based activities with Countryside Officers. They also planted flowers and created spider habitats.

At Pontefract Castle, the young people worked with our team to design and deliver an exciting escape room activity.

They even created a time capsule that is now buried at Pontefract Castle. It contains a record of the work they’ve done to challenge stereotypes about children in care. When it’s opened in 100 years, people will find out about the young people’s identities, their hopes and dreams. 

The time capsule ready to be buried at Pontefract Castle

During the activities, the group also discuss different topics that matter to them. These include the importance of siblings getting to grow up together and the role of good and bad rules in their lives. 

They made a series of short films exploring these issues:

Watch the full We are… playlist to hear more from the Children in Care Council.

Visit the We are… display in the Wall @ Create Café space, inside Wakefield One, until 16 May 2025.

Fostering Wakefield

Did you know that there is a national shortage of Foster Carers?

When you foster, you don’t just care for a child, you help change their life.

By offering love, support, and guidance, you have the power to create lasting positive impact on their future. Fostering Wakefield are here to support you in every role you take on.

Enquire today at Fostering Wakefield

As a fostering friendly employer, Wakefield Council support our employees to make a difference, enabling them to balance employment with looking after children. 

Nearly 40% of foster carers combine fostering with other work. Those who do, say that a supportive employer can make all the difference. 

At Wakefield Council, we have fostering friendly HR policies for all our foster carers. This includes offering carers flexible working and paid time off for training and settling a new child into their home. 

Being a fostering friendly employer means we can improve support for staff, making workplaces friendlier for foster carers, benefiting the children in their care and also making it easier for people to consider fostering.

If you want to know a bit more about fostering with us, get in touch with the team: fostering@wakefield.gov.uk

MHG Volunteer Blogs: Week 11 - Violet

It's time for the latest blog from our dedicated team of volunteer gardeners at Pontefract Castle.

Find out more about their blog series here.

17 March 2025

Well, it was another cold start today. While Helen weeded all the planters on site, Dave collected fallen branches from the MHG.

After a bit of selective weeding, Carole relocated some self-seeded golden feverfews and daisies. She then moved them nearer to their parent plants. Carole also planted out some prostrate rosemary cuttings, from last year, on the main wall and the dry-stone wall. They will replace those that had died unexpectedly.

We now have more rhubarb plants for sale along with a tray of columbines (aquilegia).

Rhubarb plants and columbines for sale on the barrow

Although it’s not the 'Plant of the Week', the white comfrey is looking remarkably healthy for the time of year.

The white comfrey bush in the MHG

Plant of the Week – Violet (viola odorata) Sweet or English Violet

The name 'violet' originates from the Latin 'viola', which means purple, via the old French 'violette'.

The violet is a perennial plant from Europe and Western Asia. It is rhizomatous, which means it has an underground stem that can produce shoots and roots. 

It forms a loose mat of heart-shaped leaves with a height of 15cm and a spread of 30cm. It will tolerate full sun or partial shade, in any type of moist but well-drained soil. 

It produces fragrant, violet flowers which are 2cm across. It tends to flower in late Autum and early Spring (although they are a little late this year). They readily self-seed as can be seen in the MHG.

Violets growing in the Medieval Herb Garden

Culinary uses of violets

As far back as 1885, a study compared violet leaf vitamin C content to that of oranges and vitamin A content to that of spinach. The leaves, if collected in spring, contain twice as much vitamin C as the same weight of orange. They can also contain more than twice the amount of vitamin A, gram for gram, when compared with spinach.

When newly opened, viola flowers may be used to decorate salads. They can be used in stuffings for poultry or fish. The young leaves are edible, raw or cooked, as a mild-tasting leaf vegetable.

A candied violet is preserved by a coating of egg white and crystallised sugar. Alternatively, hot syrup is poured over the fresh flower and stirred until the sugar recrystallizes and has dried. They are used for decorating cakes or trifles or included in aromatic desserts.

Violet flower vinegar can be used with salads and marinades. Flowers stirred into fresh yogurt and left overnight enhance the taste.

However, care should be taken when using violets for culinary purposes. Over-indulgence can sometimes cause acute stomach upset, high blood pressure, nervousness and breathing problems.

Folklore and other facts about violets

In Greek mythology, Zeus had a lover named Io. In a fit of jealousy, his wife Hera turned her into a white heifer. Zeus created violets to give her something lovely to graze upon.

Violet is the traditional birth flower for February in English tradition. It was Queen Victoria’s favourite flower.

The smell of violets used to be so loved in Britain and France that violet sellers were a common sight on street corners in Spring. People bought little posies for buttonholes and long-stemmed hybrids to put in vases. In 1881, six million bunches of violets were sold in Paris.

In America, there are accounts of Native Americans using violets in cancer treatments.

Medieval uses of violets*

The Ancient Greeks were obsessed with violets. They wore crowns of violets to relieve headaches, cure insomnia, promote sleep and serenity, and stimulate pleasant dreams.

In Macer’s 'Herbal' (10th century) the violet is among the many herbs which were considered powerful against “wykked spirits”.

Violets have been used to make perfume since ancient Greece. They were also used to create early household deodorants in medieval Britain.

According to the herbalist John Gerard in 1597: “The flowers are good for all inflammations, especially of the sides and lungs; they take away the hoarseness of the chest, the ruggedness of the windpipe and jaw, allay the extreme heat of the liver, kidney, and bladder; mitigate the fiery heat of burning agues; temper the sharpness of choler, and take away thirst … Syrup of violets is good against the inflammation of the lungs and breast, against the pleurisy and cough, against fevers and agues in young children.”

*As always, this isn't to be considered medical advice today. Please don't use any plants mentioned in these blogs as medicine without advice from a doctor.

MHG Volunteer Blogs: Week 10 - Coltsfoot

It's time for the latest blog from our dedicated team of volunteer gardeners at Pontefract Castle.

Find out more about their blog series here.

10 March 2025

The volunteers arrived to find a chilly mist over the castle. Despite this, we still spotted ladybirds nestled in the rosemary flowers.

A ladybird resting on a rosemary plant in the Medieval Herb Garden

Dave dug out some of the liquorice plant runners. They can easily take over with new shoots popping up some distance from the original plant.

Dave getting stuck in with the liquorice runners

James and Helen continued the weeding battle against hairy bittercress and lamb’s lettuce. We can now add cinquefoil onto that list - the MHG’s nemesis! It spreads very thoroughly. 

James also noticed that leaves had started to unfurl on the crab-apple tree.

Young leaves and fruit on the crab apple tree

When weeding at this time of year, it is easy to mistakenly weed out self-sown herb seedlings. These could either be planted elsewhere else or be potted-on, to sell on the barrow. Helen admits that she has experience of needing to replant herbs that she thought were weeds!

Plant of the week: Coltsfoot (tussilago farfara)

The name 'tussilago' is derived from the Latin 'tussis', meaning cough, and 'ago', meaning to cast or to act on. 

'Farfara' comes from 'farfarus' which is an ancient name for the white poplar tree. This is because their leaves bear some resemblance to coltsfoot.

Our coltsfoot crop - the flowers appear before the leaves

Coltsfoot is a perennial, deciduous, herbaceous plant. It is native to Europe and Western and Central Asia.

The flowers bear scale-leaves on the long stems in early spring. The true leaves are large, crinkly and mid to dark green. They have angular teeth on their margins with a silvery, furry reverse that appears as the flowers fade. Coltsfoot prefers moist, but well-drained soiI, of any acidity.

Coltsfoot grows to a height of 10 to 20cm. It rapidly spreads by large, white, fleshy, underground roots. It can be hard to get rid of, as the plant re-grows from even the smallest piece of root left behind in the soil. As the roots are brittle, they are hard to completely remove.

Culinary uses of coltsfoot

Coltsfoot Rock is a confectionery created from coltsfoot extract by a confectioner based in Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire. As a product, it is a hardened stick of brittle rock flavoured with coltsfoot. It is usually consumed for medicinal purposes. Coltsfoot Rock has a subtle aniseed flavour, similar to liquorice.

Folklore and other coltsfoot facts

The old name for coltsfoot was 'filius ante patron' (the son before the father). This is because the golden flowers appear and wither before the broad sea-green leaves are produced.

When coltsfoot reached the Americas, a popular practice would be to soak a blanket in a solution of coltsfoot and wrap it around patients suffering from whooping cough.

Cornish tin miners would regularly smoke coltsfoot to guard against lung diseases.

In Russia and China, it is used to treat diarrhoea, skin diseases, wounds, and blemishes. In Turkey it is used to treat burns. In Ukraine and Poland it is used to treat ulcers.

Coltsfoot is used as a food plant by the larvae of some moths including the gothic and small angle shades moths. It is also visited by honeybees, providing pollen and nectar. The seed clocks are used by goldfinches to line their nests.

The flowers open in the day and close up again at night.

Medieval uses*

Coltsfoot has been used medicinally for many hundreds of years to treat coughs, colds and sore throats.  Coltsfoot 'tea' is a traditional remedy. It is said to smell of liquorice.

*As always, this isn't to be considered medical advice today. Please don't use any plants mentioned in these blogs as medicine without advice from a doctor.

MHG Volunteer Blog: Week 9 - Lungwort

We're continuing our march on into spring in this week's Medieval Herb Garden blog. 

Read on for gardening tips and to discover more about the Plant of the Week - and it involves horses drinking beer!

3 March 2025

Today started off cold again, but it eventually warmed up towards lunch time.  This morning Helen potted-on some shasta daisies. These will be put on sale later in the month.

Following last week’s blog regarding the “visiting” snow drops, we have had some snowdrops kindly donated to the MHG. Carole planted these in four clumps around the site.

Later, both Carole and Helen weeded.  The weeds in the Medieval Herb Garden seem to be on a cycle, with different weeds appearing in different years. This year we are inundated with lamb’s lettuce (which we’ve not had before) and hairy bittercress. This has appeared all over the MHG.

If you want to give your garden a quick tidy up, one of the easiest ways is to mow the lawn and turn over the soil. Recently-turned soil immediately makes the garden look neater.

The rhubarb bed 'turned over'

Plant of the week: Lungwort, Jerusalem Cowslip (pulmonaria officinalis)

In the times of sympathetic magic, the spotted oval leaves of P. officinalis were thought to symbolise diseased lungs. They were used to treat pulmanory infections. The scientific name pulmonaria is derived from the Latin 'pulmo' (lung).

This perennial, semi-evergreen, herbaceous plant is native to Eurasia. It has clump-forming rosettes of mottled oval leaves that are covered in hairs. It has pink flowers which change to blue after pollination. It has a height of 15 to 25cm and a spread of 60cm.  

It prefers partial shade but will tolerate sun, once established. It has one seed per flower and will readily self-seed.

Lungwort flowers showing the change in colour

Culinary uses of lungwort

Lungwort was possibly included as a seasoning herb in medieval stews.

Folklore and other lungwort facts

The spots on the leaves are due to the presence of foliage air pockets. These pockets, which cool the lower leaf surface, mask the presence of chlorophyll. This change of colour was likened to lung tissue. Lung tissue changes colour depending on the level of oxygen present.

The flowers’ colour ranges from pink to blue, depending on their stage of development. The pH level within the flower changes after fertilisation/pollination.

Lungwort was boiled in beer and given to horses to treat respiratory problems!

Lungwort is one of the rare plants that can survive beneath a black walnut tree. These trees produce toxic substances that kill most plant species.

Lungwort was said to reveal if a person was a witch. It was used to protect against witchcraft.

In the language of flowers, lungwort is said to express 'thou art my life'.

Medieval uses*

Lungwort was used to treat various lung problems. These included coughs, wheezes, asthma and shortness of breath. It was even used historically in treating tuberculosis.

It was used (along with wormwood) to attempt to cure the Black Death in 1348 to 1350. It was also used in ointments for wounds, boils, and ulcers.

Some historical references to “lungwort” actually relate to oak moss.

*As always, this isn't to be considered medical advice today. Please don't use any plants mentioned in these blogs as medicine without advice from a doctor.

Browse the previous Medieval Herb Garden blogs here

MHG Volunteer Blog: Week 8 - Salad burnet

The signs of spring are starting to emerge - even if the weather is all over the place! 

Here's what our Medieval Herb Garden volunteers have been up to this week:

24 February 2025

It was quite a busy morning. David and James weeded between the lavender and the drive. Afterwards, James and Kaidan started to dig a trench between the MHG and the weed-infected spoil hill. The spoil hill is left over from the gatehouse excavations. We do this in the vague hope that we will be able to make a break line to stop the weeds getting a toe-hold in the MHG.

We discovered another surprise today. Although snowdrops were used in the past to treat headaches, we haven’t planted any in the MHG. We might take this lone visitor as a hint, and get some for next year.

The lone snowdrop in the Medieval Herb Garden

Carole carried out a general tidy-up of various plants. She removed a bucketful of ragweed and removed all the dead branches from the variegated beech tree. 

As a last job, Carole dug up some liquorice runners (“roots”). These will be used by Kelly, Learning Officer, in her next home education workshops. In the workshops, the children will learn about the history and the uses of liquorice. They will also get to taste the natural plant for themselves.

Liquorice runners dug up from the MHG

Plant of the week - Salad Burnet, Garden Burnet (sanguisorba minor)

The Latin sanguisorba minor, comes from 'sanguis', meaning 'blood', and 'sorbere', meaning to 'soak up'. The name relates to its ancient medicinal use, which was to staunch wounds.

This herbaceous perennial grows to a height of 3ft and a spread of 18 inches. The leaves are rounded with toothed edges. There are four to twelve pairs of leaflets per leaf, which form a rosette. It has knobbly clusters of crimson flowers and burred fruit. It will readily self-seed everywhere. 

Salad burnet growing in the MHG

Although native of chalk soils, salad burnet will grow in any alkaline or neutral, well-drained conditions. It prefers full sun to part shade. 

Culinary uses of salad burnet

Salad burnet is useful as it is one of the first “cuttable crops” to appear before Spring fully takes hold. 

It tastes similar to cucumber or melon and can be used as a substitute for them, where flavour rather than bulk is required. Only the young leaves should be used, as the leaves get more bitter as they get older! Think of it as cucumber-flavoured parsley. 

It is often added to gin and tonic as a garnish.

Folklore and other salad burnet facts

It has long been believed that salad burnet could stop both internal and external bleeding. According to legend, soldiers in the American War of Independence used to drink salad burnet “tea”. They thought that the “tea” would stop them from bleeding to death if they were shot.

Medieval uses*

Salad burnet has been used for more than 2,000 years. It was known to the ancient Greeks and Chinese. Preparations of salad burnet root have been used to treat wounds, dysentery and menstruation. It was once used against the bubonic plague and to control bleeding and heal wounds. Salad burnet has also been used historically to help digestion.

*As always, this isn't to be considered medical advice today. Please don't use any plants mentioned in these blogs as medicine without advice from a doctor.

Browse the previous Medieval Herb Garden blogs here

Research, development and recreation of Cistercian ware - Naomi Aderonke

Naomi Aderonke, a local ceramicist who has a passion for history, has recreated a style of pottery made in medieval Wakefield. 

In the middle ages Cistercian ware was made in Potovens (pot ovens) in Wrenthorpe. Initially, they supplied practical bowls and cups to Cistercian monks in their abbeys. The abbeys closed in 1540. However, the pots were so popular in Wakefield that they kept making them. In the 1600s, they started also decorating the pots in coloured slip. 

Naomi lives near the site of the Wrenthorpe pottery kilns. She has researched the medieval techniques and style to recreate examples from our collections. Her work has now gone on display with original Cistercian ware at Wakefield Museum.

Read on to discover more about Naomi's research and work in her guest blog.

Naomi Aderonke hosting her tyg making workshop

Why Cistercian ware?

I was looking for a historical link between Wakefield and Ceramics. I’d been interested in looking into alternative industries that might have been significant in Wakefield's history, that weren't textiles and coal mining.

Being a ceramicist myself I wanted to find a link between where I grew up and the craft I loved. 

Researching this I stumbled upon an article on Engole. Here I learnt of Wakefield's link to Cistercian ware. 

I then cross-referenced with other sources, like the archaeology data service and Historic England's records. I learnt more about Cistercian ware's significance, not just to Wakefield, but the surrounding areas of Yorkshire.

The first hurdles

Initially, I wanted to truly recreate as much as I could of the original process that was used in the 1500s.

Potovens was named for the kilns there. A recreation of the original kilns used is outside Wrenthorpe's village hall. Sadly, I do not have the funding, land or skill to recreate an original replica of a working Potovens kiln.

Another issue I had was sourcing local clay. I worked with a local geologist who obtained maps of clay deposits in the area. I started my inquiries.

I sent several emails to the local parks, castles, estates, canals, lakes. I also contacted the original places the potters would use for their clay, Outwood Colliery.

All answers came back as negative. However, it did give me a deeper insight into the local land.

Most original clay deposits would later become coal mines; leaving the land surrounding them unstable. The old pits themselves have been rewilded into marshland for local birds and animals. The castles, parks, estates and lakes such as Newmillerdam and Pugneys are protected land or have been made unstable due to mining. And finally, the canals cannot be dug up due to it causing canal erosion. 

While initially I felt sad and frustrated at this dead end, I knew that the protection of Wakefield's wildlife and history was more important than a few bags of wild, local clay.

Project research and development 

One of the first things I did once I was able to start this project was contact Wakefield Museum. I wanted to learn more about Cisterian ware in Wakefield from an historian's perspective. 

A piece of Late Cistercian ware pot, decorated with white slip and a heavy iron oxide glaze

I was invited by them to the museum store in Ossett. I got to handle original Cistercian ware dug up from both Sandal Castle and Pontefract Castle.

After seeing these original examples of Cistercian ware I threw myself into the practical development side of the project. 

A Wrenthorpe pot used to practice pulling handles on - hence all the handles! 

What makes Cistercian ware look the way it does?

First I looked for a red clay to recreate the original red clays used at the time. I ended up using one called Keuper Red. This gave me the dark reddish, almost purple, when fired, clay.  

Initially in the late middle ages they used a clay called 'glacial clay'. This white clay was easily found on the surface without too much digging. This clay contained many impurities. It was the main clay used in Brandsby-type pottery popular in the 1200s and 1300s.

The next thing I did with this clay was make around 30 to 40 test tiles. It was important for working out how I was going to make the colour for the pots.

After handling the pieces in the museum store I realised there was the use of two slips under the glaze, not one. A red/brown colour and a yellow slip (or so I believed at the time). 

A Wrenthorpe pot in the museum collection

Trial and error: development

I was not sure how they’d done the yellow slip with glaze. However, I knew from extrapolating the resources and knowledge of ceramics at the time, the colour most likely used in the slip was a red iron oxide.

Red iron oxide tends to create a reddish-brown colour. This explained the rich red-brown colour of the pots, even the ones where the glaze had chipped away (but the surface of the clay had not). 

With this, I created a multitude of test glazes and slips with different red iron oxide percentages. I kept some slip and glaze test tiles without the separate and used a mix of both slip and glaze on others. 

Test tiles stood to dry, with differing percentages of red iron oxide

I also tried to create a yellow slip with yellow staining. Unfortunately, this was a failure, and forced me to go back to the drawing board.

The base glaze was a peer-reviewed transparent glaze for dark clays. This prevented the base glaze from causing any clouding.

After working out the glazes, lead-free compared to the glazes used in the late medieval era, I began to focus on the shapes of the pieces.

Shaping the pieces

Similar to using a sketch book, I used my miniature wheel to create miniature versions of Cistercian shapes I had seen and researched.

Creating smaller versions of these reduced clay usage for failed pots. It also allowed me to create multiple variations of shapes without worry of trimming. 

Miniature test pots

Tygs

I decided to try both throwing and hand-building larger versions of Cistercian ware pieces, specifically tygs. This was a later Cistercian ware style, from around the 1700s.

A tyg was a mug with multiple handles, with each handle breathing up the mug into separate sections of the rim. This allowed people to share and pass around a drink more easily.

One of the original, incomplete tygs in our collection, and Naomi's miniature replica

None of the original tygs would have been hand-built. However, I decided to do this due to my desire to later host a workshop on 'making your own tygs'. A hand-built method would allow me to teach multiple people how to make their own tygs more easily.

Using these initial hand-built tygs, I decided to recreate the traditional yellow designs or post-reformation Cistercian ware again. 

I looked back on references from the museum store, as well as yellow and brown slip ware from Staffordshire in the 1600s. From this, I was able to extrapolate that the slip was actually not yellow at all. Instead, I worked out it was the old white clay initially used in Cistercian ware back in the 1400s. It was tinted yellow by the iron heavy glaze used.

I tried this method out on some of my failed pots. Unfortunately, they held little colour as I’d not added enough red iron oxide, nor dipped them for enough time.

However, as you can see on these zoomed-in areas, when the glaze pooled it allowed a colour going towards the yellow colour I was looking for: 

Two close-up examples nearing the desired yellow slip effect

Final stage

After putting all I had learnt to practice, I focused back on the workshop and end pieces for the Cistercian display for Wakefield Museum.

Firstly, I made and tested templates for the tyg workshop. I created net templates to work out how to get the best effect.

After working that out, I sought to create an example tyg using this method. This was then decorated with Yorkshire iconography such as rhubarb and Pontefract cakes. 

One of Naomi's tygs with a 'Pontefract Cakes' design

For the pieces for the museum display I wanted to respect the original pieces, but I did not aim to make exact replicas.

The choice to do miniatures came from the fact miniature throwing is a big part of my practice. I wanted to reflect not only the original piece but recontextualise it for a modern era.

Most people enjoy collecting miniatures of ceramic pieces. It allows them to collect much more, especially if they have smaller homes. Most miniatures are wholly based on modern ceramics. I think that having the ability to have a small part of history (whether local or international) allows people to reconnect more with the ceramics of the past.

Naomi's miniatures with their original inspiration pieces at the museum store

I would like to thank Wakefield Council for funding this as part of Our Year - Wakefield District 2024 and the help and support of Wakefield Museums and Castles.

Naomi's pieces are now on display with original Cistercian ware from our collection, in a new exhibit at Wakefield Museum.

The Cistercian ware display at Wakefield Museum

MHG Volunteer Blog: Week 7 - Rhubarb

It's the return of the Rhubarb Festival this weekend! Wonder if you can guess what our Medieval Herb Garden volunteers' plant of the week might be...

17 February 2025

It was a double-fleece day today. The ground was still sticky, so Helen potted-on some more rhubarb. These plants will probably go on sale next week (once they’ve settled down).

David watered all the plants in pots with fertilizer-infused rain water. This should give them a bit of a kickstart for spring. Carole sorted all the plant pots and various labels, ready for use in the upcoming months. She also weeded what could be reached from the path. 

It’s half term this week, so we had many younger visitors with us. One of the non-gardening topics of conversation today was the favourite colours of two dollies who were visiting the castle for the first time, with their human friends who had visited before!

Plant of the week: Common or English Rhubarb (rheum rhubarbum / rhaponticum) 

The word 'rhubarb' is likely to have derived, in the 14th century, from the Old French 'rubarbe'. This came from the Latin 'rheubarbarum' and Greek 'rha barbaron', meaning 'barbarian plant’.

Rhubarb growing in the Medieval Herb Garden

This herbaceous perennial originally comes from China. It dates back as early as 2700 BC. It has large, green, blunt, smooth, wavy-edged, leaves. Its stems can be 1 to 3ft in length, of various reddish colours and mottling, depending on the variety.

Rhubarb plants require plenty of sunlight. They need nitrogen-rich, well-drained soil that contains plenty of organic matter. Regular watering may be required.

Keeping the rhubarb crowns in the dark can force the plant into producing early, thinner, sweeter-tasting stems. This is known as 'forced rhubarb', and is one of the things Wakefield is famous for! Yorkshire forced rhubarb gained European protection in 2010. 

Although the leaves are toxic, rhubarb stems contain several beneficial vitamins and minerals. These include as vitamin K, vitamin C, potassium and calcium. Rhubarb is also a good source of dietary fibre.

Culinary uses of rhubarb

Rhubarb is a vegetable but is often used in the same way as fruits. The leaf stalks can be eaten raw (especially dipped in sugar). They are most commonly cooked with sugar and used in pies, crumbles, and other desserts and fools. They have a strong, tart taste. 

Rhubarb stalks can also be put into savoury dishes, made into jams and chutneys or pickled. Rhubarb can also be dehydrated and infused with fruit juice.

Uplit rhubarb in the Medieval Herb Garden

Folklore and other rhubarb facts

According to Chinese folklore, rhubarb was believed to have mystical origins. The first rhubarb plant sprouted from the blood of a dragon that had been slain by an ancient hero.

West Yorkshire once produced 90% of the world's winter-forced rhubarb. Forced rhubarb is traditionally grown within the 'Rhubarb Triangle'. The Rhuabrb Triangle is an approximately 9mi2 (23 km2) area of West Yorkshire, between Wakefield, Morley, and Rothwell.

In the United States, the common usage of rhubarb in pies has led to it being nicknamed "pie plant". This is what rhubarb is referred to as in cookbooks from the 1800s.

Rhubarb is also used in skincare products. This is due to its high concentration of vitamin C and natural acids. Rhubarb extracts are added to facial masks, serums, and creams. They promote healthy and radiant skin by reducing signs of ageing and improving the overall complexion.

The world’s largest rhubarb plant was reportedly grown in Canada, measuring over 9 feet in height!

Rhubarb leaves contain toxic substances and people have been poisoned after ingesting the leaves. However, a 65 kg adult would need to eat 4 to 8 kg (9 to 18 lbs) to obtain a lethal dose.

Medieval uses*

A handwritten 'cure for cholera' from the 1890s containing rhubarb, on display at Wakefield Museum

In ancient times, rhubarb root was mainly used as a laxative. It was known for its gentle, effective relief from constipation, bloating and indigestion.

Rhubarb has been used to detoxify the body and cleanse the system. It acts as a purgative, helping to remove toxins and waste products from the body. Rhubarb was also believed to have anti-inflammatory properties. It was used to treat swollen joints and other inflammatory conditions.

During the Renaissance, rhubarb became a main ingredient in various healing potions and remedies. Rhubarb has astringent properties, which means it causes the contraction of skin cells and other body tissues. This made it useful for treating wounds and encouraging wounds to heal faster. 

Rhubarb was also used to treat symptoms of fever and improve blood circulation. It was also used to treat cholera, dysentery and scurvy.

*As always, this isn't to be considered medical advice today. Please don't use any plants mentioned in these blogs as medicine without advice from a doctor.

Browse the previous Medieval Herb Garden blogs here