Kwekerij Ron

Who's behind it

Ron Voorbij runs Kwekerij Ron at the Donkereind in Vinkeveen, just within the province of Utrecht. He took over an old greenhouse from Leo, who was already growing Asian vegetables there in the nineteen seventies, which was unusual in the Netherlands at the time. Since 2006 the business has been in his own name as a sole trader. Ron kept the Asian vegetables and built a second specialty on top: edible flowers. Not a factory then. What the greenhouse produces is what Ron himself picked and sorted that morning.

What makes it truly different

The flowers are hand-picked, sorted and packed early every morning. You notice that in the firmness: a violet picked at seven in the morning still stands proud on the plate in the evening. Ron works largely with biological pest control instead of chemicals, logical for a product that lands raw and unprocessed on the plate. The selection shifts with the seasons. Violets and calendula in the cooler months, nasturtium as it warms up, with a peppery bite that surprises among otherwise sweet garnishes. Alongside that, Ron supplies Roman chervil, a herb with a fine anise tone you can use both as leaf and as flower.

How to set yourself apart with this

Edible flowers quickly become a cliché: a random violet on every plate. With a grower who picks daily you can do it differently. Choose on flavour. Nasturtium gives pepper, calendula a light bitterness, violet mainly scent and texture. Because the supply is fresh and small, you can determine per dish what fits instead of taking a fixed mix. Put the chervil flower with a light fish dish or a dairy dessert, where that anise tone gives an extra layer. And because it comes from Vinkeveen and not from an import box, you can put the origin on your menu and actually deliver on it. Just ask at your order what's best that week, then you grow with the seasons instead of fighting against a fixed list.