while there’s a chill in the air, nothing brings comfort quite like a hearty homemade crumble
STORIES · 12.02.25
Food | Recipes | Well-Being
I look forward to seeing the first boxes of forced rhubarb arrive in the farmshop at the start of every year. Their brilliant pink stems are instantly cheering and the perfect antidote to February’s greyer days. We source ours from a trio of multigenerational growers in West Yorkshire’s ‘Rhubarb Triangle’. The area has the ideal cold climate for forcing rhubarb and even holds a DOP status – much like our award winning Double Gloucester Cheese.
Forcing rhubarb is a traditional and skilled craft, with plants grown in dark sheds and harvested by candlelight to preserve their tenderness. Simply roasting or poaching the fruit is a great way to enhance its natural flavour and sweetness – but while there’s still a chill in the air, nothing brings comfort quite like a hearty homemade crumble. We developed the seasonal recipe below for Daylesford’s café menus, combining the rhubarb with blood oranges, a crunchy pistachio topping and heritage apples from the farm’s orchard. It has proved so popular that I simply had to share it with you – and you can watch a video of how our chefs make it on my Instagram.
Serves 6
120g cold butter, diced
120g plain flour
90g light brown sugar
125g oats
30g shelled pistachios, roughly chopped
4 eating apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped
2 rhubarb stems, chopped
140g sugar
1 large blood orange, zest and juice
forcing rhubarb is a traditional and skilled craft, with plants grown in dark sheds and harvested by candlelight to preserve their tenderness
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Place the butter, flour and sugar in a food processor and blitz until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Tip the mixture onto a baking tray with the oats, spread out and then bake in the oven for 12 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven then stir through the pistachio nuts and set aside.
Meanwhile, put the chopped fruit into a medium saucepan with the sugar, orange zest and juice. Bring to the boil, cover with a lid, then simmer for about ten minutes or until the fruit is softening and the liquid has reduced.
Serve with plenty of cold double cream, custard, ice cream – or perhaps a little softly whipped cream with a spoonful of rhubarb compote rippled through.
If you would like to book a table in one of Daylesford’s London or Cotswold cafés, click here.
