Maker · Vegetables
Klootwijk
Brother and sister grow over 350 varieties in an unheated greenhouse in Raamsdonk, without chemicals and with their own seed. What is cut in the morning arrives the same day. Their cabbages and leafy greens have a firm structure, for a quick sauté or a raw salad.
The story
Who's behind it
Klootwijk in Raamsdonk runs on brother and sister Cees and Janneke Klootwijk. Their father was in potatoes and chicory, their mother in strawberries and onions. The next generation went a different way. Cees grows a handful of steady crops like chard, bok choy and coriander. Janneke takes the rest and that's hundreds: all kinds of cabbages, herbs, edible flowers, exotic cucumbers and microgreens. Together they hit over 350 varieties per year, with about 25 new in trial. A crop gets three years to prove itself.
They grow on 2.5 hectares of greenhouse on river clay and sand layers, a soil that suits cabbages and leafy greens. The greenhouse has been unheated for years.
How they grow
They grow without chemical pesticides: ladybirds take care of the aphids. Sowing follows the moon and they save much of their own seed. Wageningen University researches the insects in the greenhouse. The farm is certified under GlobalGAP and PlanetProof.
In the cold greenhouse everything grows at its own pace. Slower-grown leaf has more structure and dry matter. Whatever is ordered is cut the same day, and weeds are pulled by hand. A turnip green still stands upright after two days and the kale sits firm in the box.
In your kitchen
The purple kale is firm enough to use raw: strip it from the rib, massage briefly, and you have a salad that holds colour and bite until it leaves the pass. Blanch it and the purple turns deep green, so decide in advance what you want on the plate. Turnip greens are lightly bitter and need thirty seconds. Set that bitterness against something sweet or rich.
Janneke grows hundreds of varieties and the selection changes weekly. Ask about the seasonal specials for something new on the menu.
Chef’s tip
Purple kale works raw. Strip the leaves from the rib, massage them for a minute with salt and oil and the fibre softens. Raw it keeps its purple, briefly blanched the colour turns deep green, so choose deliberately. Turnip greens get thirty seconds in the pan at most.
How to use it
Ideas for your menu
Raw purple kale with apple and hazelnut
Massaged leaves, sharp apple, roasted hazelnut and mustard dressing. A fresh salad that holds colour and bite to the table.
Turnip greens à la minute
Thirty seconds in hot oil with garlic and chilli, finish with lemon. A green side you make at service.
Blanched kale with fish
Quick through boiling water so the purple shifts to deep green, then cold rinse. Rounds out a plate with fried fish.
Bitter greens with sweet
Turnip greens against parsnip puree or burnt shallot. Play the light bitter against something sweet and warm.
For your menu
“Purple kale and turnip greens from Klootwijk, Raamsdonk. Day-fresh from the cold greenhouse, grown without chemicals.”
Products from Klootwijk
What we carry from this maker
Raapstelen
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.