Maker Β· Vegetables
Elenbaas Zeegroenten
Salt-marsh greens from the Zeeland marshes, now also from the greenhouse, so you can keep samphire and sea lavender on the menu all year.
The story
Who's behind it
Elenbaas Zeegroenten is run by Hans Elenbaas in Middelburg. It's family work spanning three generations. His grandfather was already cutting sea lavender and samphire from the Zeeland marshes in the 1930s, his mother sold it door-to-door. Hans went out onto the mudflats as an eleven-year-old with his brother to look for salt plants. The harvest is still demanding and labour-intensive, and sorting and packing happen mostly by hand.
What started as wild gathering has grown into a business supplying hospitality venues, specialist shops and supermarkets. About 60 per cent goes to Dutch customers, the rest to export markets.
Wild and greenhouse
Wild-harvested salt-marsh greens have a short season. Sea lavender and samphire peak in summer and are picked with a permit from the marshes. To supply outside those months, Hans started a greenhouse operation in 2018 with grower Aart-Jan Bil from Kerkwerve, under the name Nieuwe Zeeuwse Zilte Teelten. Some of the salt-marsh greens now come from the greenhouse, grown in soil irrigated with salt water.
In peak season you get the flavour of the marshes, and the greenhouse covers the rest of the year. The greens are crunchy from the salt and full of flavour from the minerals in the soil. Alongside samphire and sea lavender, new varieties are coming in, like sea aster, sea fennel and the sea bean: a plant about two centimetres long that pops on your tongue like a cherry tomato.
In your kitchen
Salt-marsh greens bring salt to the plate, with crunch and colour. Add a handful of samphire to raw mackerel or scallop. Sea lavender tossed through brown butter next to turbot is five minutes' work.
At the table you can talk about the Zeeland marshes, the three generations and the hand harvest. For year-round supply there's the greenhouse crop. The range shifts with the season, so ask what's coming in that week.
Chefβs tip
Samphire and sea lavender are naturally salty, so taste before adding salt. Blanch for 30 seconds at most and shock in cold water to keep the crunch and colour. Sea lavender in brown butter is enough alongside fish.
How to use it
Ideas for your menu
Samphire with raw fish
Raw mackerel or scallop with crunchy samphire, a touch of citrus and oil. The samphire brings the salt.
Sea lavender in brown butter
A quick pass through brown butter alongside turbot or sea bass. Five minutes' work.
Sea aster and shellfish
Sea aster raw or just warm with langoustine or oyster. Also works cold in a salad with fennel.
Sea bean as garnish
The tiny, crunchy sea bean as the final note on a plateau or amuse. Pops open like a cherry tomato.
For your menu
βSamphire and sea lavender from Elenbaas Zeegroenten, wild-harvested from the Zeeland salt marshesβ
Products from Elenbaas Zeegroenten
What we carry from this maker
Sea lavender (Elenbaas, Zeeland)
By the kilo and by the box. Peak in summer, wild-harvested from the marshes.
Samphire (Zeeland)
By the kilo and by the 1-kilo box. Zeeland harvest; imported outside season.
Salt-marsh seasonal vegetables
Rotating stock, such as sea aster, sea fennel and sea bean. Ask what comes in that week.
Prices and availability are in the portal. Become a customer or log in to order.
Taste it in your own kitchen
Book a no-obligation tasting with Niels and taste it for yourself.