Maker · Vegetables
Jan van Rijn: sprouts with character from Woubrugge
Fourth generation on the clay of the Vierambachtspolder. Jan van Rijn grows sprouts from the stalk, hand-picked and sized by hand. Character you can taste.
The story
Who's behind it
Jan van Rijn is the fourth generation at Welgeleven farm in Woubrugge, in the middle of the Vierambachtspolder in the Green Heart. His great-grandfather Teunis started the farm in 1924. Through 1979 there were cows; then the family shifted to arable farming. The farm shop has been running since 1975.
Today the crop rotation includes sprouts, yellow onions, potatoes, wheat and sugar beets on heavy sea clay. Jan works without additives and keeps the soil life robust. The polder between Alphen and Leiden is his whole work area, and that's deliberate: local growing means short miles to the kitchen.
What really makes the difference
Supermarket sprouts come mostly machine-picked and bundled in a bag. Jan does it differently. Young plants go in the ground in spring, harvest starts late September and runs through January. That's a growing season of well over six months where cold does the work: frost makes the sprout sweeter and firmer.
Picking is by hand, bunch by bunch, and sized right away. That gets you a sprout with bite: small, compact, with a core that stays al dente. Beyond loose medium sizes, Jan delivers the whole stalk. That loses speed in your cooler slower and gives you at the pass a dish with a story to tell.
The clay also gives the onions their profile: sharp-sweet, from the same field as the sprouts. The farm is recognized as a regional product of the Green Heart, so the origin is solid to put on your card.
How to set yourself apart with this
Put the origin on your menu and you're not selling a side dish anymore, you're selling a season story. From late September through January this is local, with name and polder attached. Work with the whole stalk for the table and with medium loose in the kitchen, then you get two dishes from one product.
Ask about that week's harvest. A sprout picked after a couple nights of frost stands further from any standard bag than any cooking technique could. That taste difference is exactly where you make your mark.
Chef’s tip
Ask for sprouts on the stalk. Pick them yourself from the bunch, they stay firm longer and with the whole stalk you set a dish on the table that guests will remember. Medium ones picked loose are ideal to halve and sear; the sweet center stays al dente while the cut face caramelizes.
How to use it
Ideas for your menu
Seared sprouts, brown butter, hazelnut and aged cheese
Raw sprout salad, apple, mustard and bacon
Sprout leaves from the wok with garlic and yellow onion
Whole stalk roasted, divided at table
For your menu
“Sprouts from Jan van Rijn, fourth generation on the clay in Woubrugge. Picked from the stalk in the Green Heart, late September through January.”
Products from Jan van Rijn
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Taste it in your own kitchen
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