This is Yorkshire forced rhubarb and harvest is the candlelit ritual being carried out here by the growers Robert and Paula Tomlinson.
While these methods have not changed in 150 years, the unusual crop is having a huge rise in popularity, with Tesco reporting a doubling in sales compared with last year.
The Tomlinsons' farm in Pudsey, Leeds, lies inside what is known as the rhubarb triangle, an area of West Yorkshire known for this vegetable, grown in large sheds. Robert said: "It's grown in the dark and we harvest it by candlelight."
The warmth inside the shed means forced rhubarb is harvested during the winter and early spring, and the absence of light leads to a substantial difference between the rhubarb grown in an allotment and this sweet, vivid pink vegetable.
"We cut out the photosynthesis. So there's no chlorophyll in there and the sugar stays in the stick rather than going into the leaves," he said.
"Outdoor rhubarb can be really acidic and stringy, whereas this is a completely different crop. And you can have it for three or four months of the year, and that's it."
The farm has been in his family since 1880 and some of the varieties he grows are descended from those grown by Robert's great-grandfather.
Gesturing to some early rhubarb flourishing in a field outside the sheds, he said: "We call this the 'new' variety because we've only had it since the 70s."
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