From tomatoes to pasta sauce, from peppers to ice
Leek pralines
Leek soup sounds like a plausible product, as do leek sandwiches and leek dressing. However, leek herbs, leek cheese, leek pralines and leek jam are somewhat unexpected, probably even unheard-of novelty items. Nonetheless, the vending machines at leek nursery Ons Dagelijks Groen (Our Daily Green) in Meldert, East Flanders, have been displaying exactly these items for two years now.
Sonja de Neef has been marketing her husband’s produce in rather unexpected ways. The decision wasn’t altogether voluntary. Changing times in regard to consumer preference prompted the entrepreneurs to either scale up, or extend the range. It became the latter. Still, the venture is one of delightful enthusiasm, say the owners. “It’s a delight to approach your product this way, to show customers the wide range of possibilities.” The products are sold at home, as well as products of entrepreneurs in the region.
Responses are generally positive and new variations are regularly introduced. Not that the concept is a gold mine, far from it. Developing products is a costly business, and actual profits have yet to be made. "We’ve been at it for two years now, and we’ll likely need another couple of years to see some decent returns." The store isn’t the company’s main activity. That is still leek cultivation and agriculture education. The latter includes visits to schools, birthday workshops, business tours, seminars and team building activities as the company shares information about leek cultivation and agriculture. "The idea is to bring people back to nature, using agriculture and horticulture and their own common sense."
(www.odgroen.be)
Pasta sauce
What do you get when you combine surplus produce from a tomato breeder with that of a meat processor? Pasta sauce. Frisian vine tomatoes nursery Van der Kaaij collaborates with Frisian meat processor Selekt Meat. "Van der Kaaij was looking for a purpose for those tomatoes no longer on the vine," says Jacob Roorda of Selekt Meat. "Which led to this collaboration. The production of sauce suits us. Together we have developed the sauce, which contains rejected surplus from both Selekt Meat and Van der Kaaij. Waste meat in the processing of Carpaccio used to go to the wholesaler. Now we can have some fun with it." The sauce itself is produced in Harlingen, in the cooking department already in use by Selekt Meat. The department has now doubled in size for the production of pasta sauce.
The sauce has been on the market since spring 2014. There are two packaging options: a pouch for large user (2.5 or 5 kg) and a frozen portion. "This we supply to a hotel chain. If someone wants pasta, the staff just has to put a bowl in the microwave, producing a hot meal in no time." Van der Kaaij and Selekt Meat are now busy bringing the concept to the market. It may not be the cheapest option available, but with the focus on quality, there are certainly opportunities. "It's a local product, and similar products contain 7 or 8 percent beef at most; with us it’s 25 percent. And it is not made of Spanish tomato pulp, but from pure vine tomatoes. And you can taste it!"
(www.kaaij-tomaten.nl)
Orange pepper ice
100 percent water-based, gluten free, low in calories and lactose-free - and yet boasting the creamy taste of actual ice cream. That is the orange pepper (paprika) ice that won Annette Hermans of pepper nursery Hermans-Walter and master gelato Theo Clevers the Smaakvol 2011 Award three years ago. Hermans is still active with the ice. "I think it adds something to the vegetable," says Hermans. "It’s about promoting the versatility of the product." Nursery Hermans-Walter has been active in the cultivation of orange peppers for more than thirty years, and is the second-largest producer in the Netherlands. "In both good and bad times you have to consider how you can create added value to your product. Producing peppers alone is not enough."
Hermans’ product range also includes dips, cake with a mousse of peppers, cheese with paprika, liqueur, jam and chutney mousse. Once Hermans has an idea, she is looking for someone who can make the product. Over the years, the procedure is becoming easier. Winning the award and the success of the ice cream also contributes to this. The pepper ice cream is served and sold at events and to growers of orange peppers. Consumers are eager to buy, but restaurants as well, who serve it with salad, soup, fish or meat.
Which makes it kind of a shame that retailers like Hanos or Sligro don’t yet supply the product. “People have to buy it here, at the nursery," says Hermans. Still, perhaps the ice shouldn’t be too successful anyway. "It’s a niche product and orange peppers remain our core business. Expand the number of outlets? If someone comes up with a good marketing concept maybe. But the upside of home sales is the added experience: people can see and experience the origin of the product for themselves, which makes the whole thing a lot more fun.”
(www.hermanswalterbv.nl)