Maker · Tuinpark Laakzijde, Amersfoort · Vegetables
Voedselbos Amersfoort
Six thousand square metres of edible forest on the edge of Amersfoort, planted in layers: tall trees, shrubs, small fruit and nut bearers and a floor full of herbs. Here you harvest stinging nettle, lemon verbena, fig leaf, cardoon and hawthorn blossom. What's available changes week to week.
The story
Who's behind it
Voedselbos Amersfoort is at Tuinpark Laakzijde, on Achterhoekerweg. It covers about 6,000 square metres and is run by Stichting het Aardmannetje, with a manager and a group of volunteers who plant, prune and harvest. It's been open to visitors since early 2024. It's also an education project: there are guided tours and work days, and some of the paths are open to the public.
A food forest is a deliberately planted forest where almost everything is edible, built in layers: tall trees at the top, shrubs and small fruit and nut bearers below them, and a layer of herbs and ground cover on the floor. The layers work together. Plants for people grow alongside plants for pollinators and for the birds that keep pests in check. The forest is set up as a plant community in which species support one another.
Why these greens
Stinging nettle, lemon verbena, chocolate mint, cardoon, fresh horseradish, fig leaf and hawthorn blossom all grow here. Ingredients you'd otherwise forage or import come fresh from just outside the city.
The range changes by the week and the season. You harvest what's there at the time, and some species are only around briefly. Hawthorn blossom and fig leaf are pre-order, in a window that's sometimes just a few weeks long. With some planning you get a menu that moves with what's growing outside, with greens harvested at their peak.
In your kitchen
Put the food forest ingredient at the centre of the plate, such as charred nettle or infused fig leaf. Ask in advance what's ready and build your dish around the harvest. Combine the regular items from your usual order with a handful of species from the food forest, and it stays workable. Name the source on the menu: 6,000 square metres of biodiverse food forest near Amersfoort.
Chef’s tip
Work seasonally and order by harvest. Hawthorn blossom and fig leaf are pre-orders with a window of sometimes just a few weeks. Check in advance what's available, plan your menu around it and put that one ingredient at the centre of the plate.
How to use it
Ideas for your menu
Charred nettle
Young nettles into a deep green oil or soup. Earthy, spinach-like flavour.
Fig leaf under fish
Infuse cream or butter with fig leaf for a coconut-like aroma, or use the leaf as a wrap under grilled fish.
Lemon verbena infusion
Intense lemon leaf in a sorbet, broth or dessert cream. Fresher and sharper than lemon peel.
Fresh horseradish
Grated at table over tartare, smoked fish or beetroot. Full and sharp.
For your menu
“Edible greens from Voedselbos Amersfoort, a biodiverse food forest of 6,000 m² at Tuinpark Laakzijde. Harvested to order.”
Products from Voedselbos Amersfoort
What we carry from this maker
Chocolate mint (after eight)
Mint variant with cocoa notes, for dessert and drink.
Pears Doyenné du Comice
Juicy eating pears, autumn. Order Sunday, deliver Thursday.
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.