"Weather has a lot of influence on consumption"
Is the salsify a competitor for the asparagus? Theo doesn't think so. "It's a very different season, asparagus is a real spring vegetable, whilst salsify is a real winter vegetable. But people that love asparagus, love good food, so they'll like salsify. The weather has a lot of influence on the consumption. During warmer weather people are more likely to eat asparagus, and during colder weather more salsify. It's also all about experience. With a bit of imagination you can used this in so many ways."
The largest part of the salsify area is used for the processing. "They are harvested by machines for this, and have short stalks. But they're harvest by hand for the fresh market and they're lovely, long, thick, salsify. We supply it in all possible packaging."
"Labour intensive, prices at a high level"
Theo indicates that harvesting salsify is very labour intensive and hard work. "It's strenuous, not many growers want to do it any more. It's still harvested by hand and pulled out of the earth one by one. "The harvest starts in September and ends in February. "Because they're easy to keep we can supply them until July/August. "Because it's intensive work, the prices are at a relatively high level. Last year the average prices per kilo were above one Euro." Important sales markets are Germany and France, according to the trader.For more information:
Theo Jegerings
Langfruit
Venrayseweg 198
5928 RH Venlo
Tel: 0031 77 3236632
www.langfruit.nl