RHUBARB and the Claytons go together like rhubarb and apple.
"It is said our family was one of the first growers of rhubarb in Australia, certainly in Victoria," Robert Clayton says."There are connections with the Clayton family in York in the UK, which is a big rhubarb growing area.
"There is a national (rhubarb) collection over there, which now includes over 100 cultivars, including some of historical interest."
Robert believes the first Claytons to come to Australia brought with them their own variety of rhubarb.
As a young boy during World War II, he can remember his family employed perhaps 70 men farming and harvesting rhubarb in the Melbourne bayside suburb of Beaumaris.
He recalls how, 15 years ago, he rediscovered the Clayton's strain of rhubarb.
"I can remember my father had some business with growers in Leopold when I was a very young boy and I recall visiting and seeing rhubarb growing down there, as it was an early rhubarb growing region," he says.
"Fifteen years ago I was developing a (horticulture training) program in conjunction with a local organisation and reestablishing a plant farm at Leopold. As I was ploughing I spotted some crowns of rhubarb and by the characteristic of the leaves and colour, I recognised it as the Clayton's rhubarb strain.
"I propagated it, as it was a very good training tool for the students as well as being valuable from a heritage point of view. A lot has been lost over the years so I took great care and now have got thousands of crowns."
Robert has grown rhubarb at different stages of his life, but not in the same serious way as his father, uncle and cousins, who grew "acres and acres of it". He has five sons, and he hoped one would take rhubarb on.
As it turns out, Robert's son, Ashley, has stepped into the rhubarbgrowing tradition and has 0.8ha planted at Leopold, on the Bellarine Peninsula. Ashley, who is a shearer, is growing the rhubarb parttime, but is looking to expand.
"It's the icing on the cake for me as a second income," Ashley says.
"Shearing usually finishes at the end of autumn and as there aren't as many sheep around anymore the timing is perfect, with the rhubarb at its peak over winter."
To be true to type, rhubarb has to come from cuttings, not seed, as the varieties all have slightly different characteristics. Some varieties have redder stalks than others, varying from cherry to blood red, while the growing seasons of some are differently timed. Most rhubarb is fairly intolerant to frost, however the Clayton family's strains have always been more frostresistant, though they tend not to be quite as red as other varieties.
While the red colour can be brought in to a fair degree with certain fertilisers, there are other varieties that are definitely much redder. These tend to be summer producers.
Rhubarb has a unique flavour, but you need the right variety at the right time of the year, when it is in peak production, for the best flavour, as out of season the flavour does change, Ashley says.
"Rhubarb is tolerant to all types of soil, but it does require good drainage, as one of its strict requirements is that it won't tolerate wet feet. It is a very hungry plant and needs to be fed regularly, but I don't think it's possible to overfeed it," he says.
"Rhubarb particularly thrives on animal manures such as fowl manure, but it will also grow well on blends of good artificial fertilisers. It is a very hardy plant and is not bothered by pests - snails have a go at the leaves, but they (the leaves) aren't used anyway, because they're toxic."
Ashley grows two varieties, for summer and winter respectively, and is also trialling a couple of other springsummer varieties, to provide yearround production.
During harvesting, some varieties are easier to break from the plant than others, including the Clayton's strain, which require a knack to twist and break from the bush, Ashley says.
"Everything is handharvested and it is important to keep the ends on the stalks, as they will sit well on the shelf. If they're broken, they go off.
"Every five to eight years the crowns are broken up and divided so we always have good, fresh produce, and some crowns are sold to the wholesale nursery trade as a winter variety."
Ashley explains that rhubarb takes about six to eight months to grow from barerooted crown to the harvest stage, although rhubarb has a long harvesting period. A good crop produces up to five times a season - each crown, in full production, should give between five and seven bunches each harvest.
Rhubarb is an incredibly versatile vegetable, lending itself to all manner of sweet and savoury dishes, wines and preserves. Now that people have a renewed interest in growing their own produce, Ashley is finding that when he sells rhubarb at farmers' markets, people are also interested in purchasing crowns to plant as well as freshly harvested stalks.
As well as selling his rhubarb at farmers' markets, Ashley supplies a couple of local wholesalers with rhubarb. He also valueadds the crop with a range of preserves, desserts and biscuits.
A Fyansford factory makes the rhubarb preserves for Ashley. These products, which include rhubarb and strawberry jam, rhubarb and pineapple jam, rhubarb relish and a rhubarb and raspberry dessert sauce, are sold under Ashley's label, ABC Rhubarb. The factory also markets some products made from Ashley's rhubarb under its own label, Pennyroyal Farm.
Geelong producer Nicole Byrne has also been keen to incorporate Ashley's tangy rhubarb into her 7 Different Sorts range of biscuits and slices. She has now introduced that oldtime favourite, rhubarb crumble slice, to her range, as well as yoyo biscuits filled with rhubarb custard.
But Ashley does not intend to stop there. "We are also pretty keen to get into wine, so we'll investigate that by talking to wineries," he says.
"As the rhubarb harvest would be in the off season, after vintage, that could be quite practical.
"Or we could even work with an icecream manufacturer - it's only limited by your imagination."
