Maker · Vegetables
Slagter: cauliflower from Andijk
A family business from Andijk that does almost nothing else but cauliflower. About 180 hectares of their own cultivation, accounting for roughly 12% of Dutch production. When you specialize that narrowly, you deliver cauliflower that works: snow-white, compact and sized to order.
The story
Who's behind it
Slagter sits in Andijk, on Kadijkweg, right in the cauliflower country of West-Friesland. It's a family business that wants to do one thing really well: cauliflower. The first shed went in the ground in 1976, and since then that's virtually the only crop they've been occupied with.
In 2023 a younger generation took over. Five cousins, ranging from early twenties to just over thirty, took the business from the hands of their fathers and uncles. That's not a romantic detail but a practical fact: the knowledge about varieties, soil and harvest timing stays within the same family and doesn't get reinvented at every handover.
The scale is substantial. They grow around 180 hectares of cauliflower themselves, partly on owned land and partly on leased plots. Through the trade passes a multiple of that annually. Together their cauliflower comes to roughly 12% of the entire Dutch production.
What makes it genuinely different
Specialization. Most open-field growers do ten crops half-well. Slagter does one, and you notice it in the sorting. Cauliflower is assessed head-by-head and sized to order, from coarse size 6 to compact size 8. For a kitchen that's the difference between guessing and ordering what you need.
The second point is control over season. Their own harvest runs in fall, roughly October through December. Outside that they keep supply going with deliveries from warmer regions, so year-round cauliflower stays at standard and not only in peak weeks.
And the sales volume says something about consistency. Slagter delivers large volumes to retail, where a cauliflower has to be the same every day. That reliability is exactly what a kitchen wants too: a cauliflower that responds this week like it did last week.
How you stand out with this
Cauliflower is cheap and everywhere, so the difference is in what you do with it. Put the cauliflower center stage instead of as a side. A whole charred cauliflower, grilled as a steak or confit until it melts, reads on the menu as a dish, not as garnish.
Play with sorting. Order coarse for whole pieces and compact for neat florets, and you get two very different dishes from the same product. Tell them where it's from: cauliflower from Andijk, from a grower who does nothing else. That turns an everyday vegetable into a choice.
Chef’s tip
Buy to size. Slagter sorts by individual head, so ask for a coarser size 6 if you want whole heads to roast and compact size 8 if you need tight, evenly-sized florets for plating. Roast a whole head on high heat until the outside really colors: the fresher and more compact the cauliflower, the less moisture it releases and the better char you'll get.
How to use it
Ideas for your menu
Whole roasted cauliflower, charred, with beurre noisette and capers
Cauliflower steak from a coarse size 6, grilled, with tahini and pomegranate
Fine cauliflower florets shaved raw through a salad or as crudité
Cauliflower confit and puréed as base under fish or poultry
For your menu
“Cauliflower from Andijk, from grower Slagter”
Products from Slagter
What we carry from this maker
White cauliflower size 6
Coarse head, the classic West-Frisian white. For whole heads and steaks.
White compact cauliflower size 8
Smaller and tightly closed. Neat florets of even size.
Midi cauliflower
Smaller size for smaller portions or plates where a half head is too much.
Cauliflower florets ready to use
Fine or coarse pre-cut, in bag or case. Saves time on mise en place.
Colored cauliflower and romanesco
Green, purple and romanesco as seasonal additions, changing sourcing.
Prices and availability are in the portal. Not a customer yet? Become a customer or log in to order.
Taste it in your own kitchen
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