Last week, dumpling specialist Burgis from the Upper Palatinate hosted a webinar focused on potatoes. Experts Petra Müller, Head of Foodservice & Export Sales, and Manfred Mottl, Regional Key Account Manager for Northern Bavaria, discussed "everything worth knowing about the main ingredient of our tasty dumpling specialties".
"This year, everything is getting started later," Müller reported to the participants after the introduction. Normally, potatoes are planted between April/May, with the first harvest in June/July. Burgis stores the early potatoes in their warehouse in Mühlhausen. The late potatoes will be taken to the farmer, who then stores the potatoes either himself or in the Mühlhausen warehouse. After the harvest, the potatoes are processed and brought dry to the Neumarkt plant. The tunnels in this storage facility are five meters high, and Burgis has six of these tunnels, giving them a capacity of 10,000-15,000 t. In total, they process 30,000-35,000t of potatoes a year. "All certified quality goods from Bavaria," Müller emphasizes. The storage remains closed until February. "This is our most valuable potato," because storage at a constant temperature – even at sub-zero temperatures - costs the company a lot of money.
Timo Burger (r) at Anuga 2019.
Certified quality from Bavaria
The 'Certified Quality from Bavaria' label is very strict, says Müller. "The potato must not have more than 240 mg of nitrate, no sewage sludge may be applied to the fields, and the storage conditions (in the dark at a constant 6 °C) have also been specified. Until in the supermarket itself, the potato must be kept in the dark." The requirements are constantly checked - at the farmer's and in the company. "We are not allowed to add any other potatoes." That is also regulated.
The Burgis storage facility. The potatoes are stored here at 6 °C in complete darkness. Even the ceiling lights are only turned on during inspections.
Eco-oreamble
The farmers supplying Burgis have joined forces with Burgis and "want to guarantee sustainable potato cultivation, want to handle all the resources that nature provides with care, want to use only as much plant protection and fertilizer as is absolutely necessary, want to be careful with water." For water, this means, for example, a drip irrigation system at the ground level. In total, 80 contract farmers have signed this preamble.
Moreover, there is a consultant: Andre Nadler. He supports the farmers on-site throughout the year with any problem. "If there are potatoes that we cannot accept, we will look for a buyer, so that the farmer can still sell these potatoes. Because the worst thing that can happen is that a farmer is left to his own devices. When farmers earn too little and lose interest in growing potatoes or other food, we will have no food in Germany," Müller reflects.
The Burgis range, distributed via wholesale, includes gastronomy-grade, shaped, fresh, or frozen dumpling dough. Also offered are bread dumplings, gnocchi, potato pancakes, Schupfnudeln, and Spätzle/Knöpfle. Since January, Burgis has been selling fresh potato dough, for houses that still produce themselves, which can be used, for example, as waffle dough. This is an innovative base product, says Manfred Mottl. Recipes have also been developed for this, which are available to customers.
New, innovative product line this May
"We have the base product - the potato - and have now moved forward and would like to add a development stage, especially for community catering, for catering in the ward area, hotel area, and also in retirement homes," Mottl reports on their new products, which will be available for sale this May. "We've gone so far as to say, 'We're setting up a new machine.' That happened last year and we've developed a dumpling that takes the innovation further." This dumpling is intended for the regaLine machine. "These are dumplings in bulk packaging that will save on work, relieving the kitchen staff. In the test kitchens, it was very well received. "This will be a real, real innovation," Mottl emphasized excitedly. More products for the system are to follow.
Burgis is a family business, taken over in 2010 by the two managing directors Christina Weiß and Timo Burger from their fathers. Thanks to their commitment to sustainability (the company has developed its own flowering mix named "Burgis Bienenliebe") and innovation, the company is known nationwide. In 2018, Burgis built a new Knödelliebe plant. With its 140 employees and being fully automated, it is claimed to be very future-proof.
Images: Burgis GmbH.
For more information:
Burgis GmbH
Kartoffelweg 1
92318 Neumarkt
Phone: +49 (0) 9181 4744-0
Fax: +49 (0) 9181 4744-24
Email: info@burgis.de
www.burgis.de