150 Bottles - Dunoon Goes POP

In China, people have selectively used the roots of rhubarb species to treat illnesses for thousands of years, long before we started growing and cooking the stalks of rhubarb.

In 1763, Dr. Mounsey passed on both the responsibility and the opportunity of rhubarb cultivation by giving a pound of the valuable seeds to Sir Alexander Dick of the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh and Dr. John Hope, King’s Botanist and Professor of Materia Medica. Sir Alexander successfully cultivated rhubarb by planting the seeds in the garden of his Edinburgh home, Prestonfield, which is now a luxury hotel featuring a restaurant aptly named Rhubarb.

Rhubarb was not widely consumed as it is today until the 19th century. One of the earliest known references to rhubarb as a food is a tart recipe from Maria Elizabeth Rundell’s 1807 cookbook, later reprinted in Alan Davidson’s Oxford Companion to Food. A pivotal factor in rhubarb’s transformation from a medicinal ingredient to a beloved dessert was the arrival of cheap, accessible sugar imported from the West Indies.

At the foot of Ferry Brae on Dunoon's high street is a pharmacy. The same premises have been continually used as a Pharmacy since 1868, when Chemist George Stirling located himself to this purpose-built premises on the corner of Ferry Brae and Argyll Street. The enterprising George Stirling also had a pharmacy in Kirn and was by all accounts an upstanding pillar of the community. He was a Master of Dunoon's Masonic Lodge (1860 - 1862) and a Police Commissioner (a local Burgh councillor), who was one of the driving forces behind the development of Dunoon Burgh Hall.

Ginger or ginger root is the rhizome of Zingiber officinale, a perennial plant with leafy stems, grass-like and bright green leaves, yellowish green flowers, tuberous and fleshy rhizomes. Ginger is native to Assam, South Central China, East Himalaya and India.

The sugar and slave trade played a pivotal role in the adoption of rhubarb hybrids as a garden and farm-grown crop in Britain. During the 1800s, British cultivation of rhubarb increased significantly as cane sugar became more affordable and widely available. Sugar, the essential sweetener for tart rhubarb, made the plant more palatable and desirable as a culinary ingredient.

This map location—Castle House—is an impressive villa built in 1822 as a summer house for James Ewing Esquire of Strathleven. The imposing Gothic-style building, situated near the ancient Dunoon Castle site and High Kirk, is now home to the Castle House Museum. Before the construction of Castle House, Dunoon was described as a "small decayed village." However, innovations in steam-powered transport and James Ewing’s prominence elevated the town’s reputation, sparking its rapid expansion as a Victorian holiday destination and desirable place to live.

Lemons have a fascinating history that dates back thousands of years, tracing their origins to northeastern India, northern Myanmar, and China. They are believed to be a hybrid, a cross between the bitter orange (Citrus aurantium) and citron (Citrus medica). The citron was one of the first citrus fruits introduced to the Mediterranean from Persia as early as the 4th century BC. However, lemons as we know them today emerged much later.

Liquorice root, angelica stems, and sweet cicely have long been used—and are still occasionally used today—to reduce the tartness of rhubarb stems. When rhubarb first became part of the British diet, people turned to other readily available plants to enhance its sweetness.

Oranges, along with other citrus fruits, originated in the Southeast Himalayan foothills, spanning parts of India, Myanmar, and China. The word "orange" comes from the Sanskrit word "nāranga," referring to the orange tree. Sweet oranges are a hybrid between pomelo and mandarin, with evidence of their ancient ancestry found in fossils from Yunnan, China.

Most of the rhubarb consumed in the UK today is grown in Yorkshire, particularly forced rhubarb. The area between Leeds, Bradford, and Wakefield—known as the Rhubarb Triangle—has held Protected Designation of Origin status since 2010.

Strict controls on rhubarb cultivation by the Russians from 1600 to 1800 meant that rhubarb seeds were not permitted to be transported. As a result, the story of rhubarb arriving in Scotland is one of risk-taking and great personal danger!

Robert Alexander Bryden, Architect (1841–1906), was born in Glasgow and educated at Arthur’s Academy, Dunoon, and Kirkcaldy Grammar School. Apprenticed to Clarke & Bell, he was listed in The Glasgow Directory as being "at Clarke & Bell’s" by 1864. In 1865, he made an influential marriage to Elizabeth Robertson, the daughter of Alexander Robertson, a Glasgow iron founder who had retired to Dunoon, consolidating Bryden’s existing connections there. That same year, he became a major in the 1st Lanarkshire Volunteers. He was elected FRIBA (Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects) on 20 May 1878, with John Baird, John Honeyman, and William Forrest Salmon serving as his proposers. Robert Alexander Bryden died on 14 April 1906 at 11 Lynedoch Crescent, Glasgow, and was buried in Dunoon Cemetery.

Outside of China, where rhubarb was first cultivated, Russia was one of the first and largest countries to trade rhubarb species. This occurred before we began cultivating the plant in Europe.

Originating from New Guinea, the tall, bamboo-like grass known as sugarcane is processed to produce sugar. The history of sugarcane use dates back over 4,000 years to New Guinea, where it is believed to have first been domesticated. From there, sugarcane cultivation spread to Southeast Asia and India. Ancient Indian texts from 1500 BCE mention "śarkarā," which referred to the crude form of sugar extracted from sugarcane. India became the birthplace of crystallized sugar around 500 BCE, significantly advancing the use of sugarcane from a simple source of sweetness to a more refined product.

James Ewing owned the Taylor's Caymanas estate in Jamaica, located in the parish of St. Catherine. This property included 286 enslaved people. He held numerous other investments that resulted in a substantial compensation payout when slavery was finally abolished through the 1833 Abolition of Slavery Act. Ewing received £9,328 (equivalent to approximately £1.3 million in today’s money), making him one of the richest men in Britain at the time.

Vanilla (Vanilla planifolia) is an evergreen vine that can reach up to 15m in length. It has thick stems and greenish to yellow flowers. The fruits are long, thin pods that contain thousands of tiny, black seeds. Vanilla has fleshy aerial roots that cling to trees and allow it to climb.