Duh- Squatting in the centre of the Rhubarb triangle as I type, got carried away with the return key.

Competition between local growers is a family feud, handed down from one generation to the next, and deadly serious. One thing I don't think GtD mentioned is the picking by candle light (so as not to spoil the blanching effect achieved by growing the stuff in a dark shed heated largely by decomposing manure).

Our local radio station even broadcast a programme which included a sequence in which you just listened to the creaks & pops of the crop slowly growing in the dark.

I wonder sometimes about the bowel obsession of this area, we are just a few miles west of the (former) liquorice-growing fields of Pontefract, another laxative product. I have even heard tell of those who combine the two, my mental picture of the mixture is not pleasant, but I reckon it could taste OK, I haven't been mad enough to try it.

As for combing chives, doesn't everyone?