With the increased demand for convenience food and ready-prepped vegetables, more and more producers have made this a standard part of the business.
RK Drysdales located in the Scottish borders is one such company. A well-established grower of swede, Brussel’s sprouts, leeks and more recently Kallettes® they have moved into the ready-prepped side of the sector.
The newest product is shredded swede, branded by Tesco as Swoodles. It is used as a carb replacement and can be boiled, steamed, microwaved and stir fried. They also do diced swede which is a well-established product these days.
Sprouts and leeks which are outside of customer’s specifications are also shredded for the convenience market.
“We have seen an increase in demand for these ready-prepped vegetables, people don’t always want to or don’t have time to prepare vegetables, especially swede, as it can be difficult to prepare at home.”
RK Drysdales grows around 1000 acres of Brussel’s sprouts and a few years ago developed a sprout peeling machine which uses a water jet to trim the sprouts. Halved as well as peeled sprouts are in the pre-prepped range.
Lynn said that just like the rest of the UK it has been incredibly wet in the borders, but the quality of the sprouts is good and they will have a range of sizes, although yield will be down due the wet weather.
For more information:
Lynn Jackson
RK Drysdale
Tel: +44 1368 830 448
LynnJ@rkdrysdale.co.uk
www.rkdrysdale.co.uk