Maker · Basics
VOL5: plant-based jus that performs like a jus de veau
Guus Vredenburg spent 23 years in top kitchens and missed one thing on the plant-based menu: a jus that reduced just as deep and glossy as a classic jus de veau. Two years later, it was there. Five vegetables, no bone stock, but full umami.
The story
Who stands behind it
VOL5 comes from Guus Vredenburg, owner of Food Things!. He started at fifteen as a commis and then spent 23 years in top kitchens in the Netherlands and beyond, including places with a Michelin star. That's why this product comes from a kitchen and not a factory lab: he knew the problem from the inside.
The problem was simple. Anyone cooking plant-based wants a jus that works just like the classic: deep in flavor, glossy, with enough body to bind and mount. That didn't exist. Vredenburg spent two years finding the right combination of Dutch vegetables, herbs, and spices, and the technique to reduce them into a sauce that stays put.
The name refers to umami, the fifth taste. That is the entire premise of the product, and it's also where a plant-based jus most often gets stuck. The jus rests on five vegetables. Reduced celeriac is one of them.
What truly sets it apart
A classic jus de veau gets its depth from roasted bones and long infusion. VOL5 gets its from vegetable reduced until umami is concentrated. The result comes close to where a jus de veau sits: rich, complex, with full mouthfeel, but without animal stock.
For you, the practical difference is that you serve one base to a mixed table. Vegan guests, flexitarians, and meat eaters all get the same jus under their plate. You don't need to run two sauces alongside each other.
The product is fully plant-based and comes frozen in cooking bags of one liter, so you tap off what you need and the rest keeps well. Star chefs like Niven Kunz and Freek van der Vlist already work with it, VOL5 is affiliated with Euro-Toques, and won the We're Smart Future Award for Product of the Year.
How to set yourself apart with this
Don't put a ready-made sauce on the plate with it, but your own. The base is neutral enough to pull in all directions. Reduce a portion further for a tight glace under roasted vegetables, or mount a looser version for with poultry.
On the menu, it's honest: a plant-based jus that stands where your guests expect a classic jus. That sells itself at the table that wants to eat plant-based without compromising on sauce. And it saves you a second pan on the pass.
“Step by step, the most beautiful jus vegetable developed.”
Chef’s tip
Treat it as a stock, not a ready-made sauce. Reduce a portion further until it clings to the spoon, mount cold with a knob of plant-based butter or a splash of oil, and season with what you already have on the pass: a spoonful of your mushroom essence, some soy sauce, or leftover red wine. That way you make ten different sauces from one base.
How to use it
Ideas for your menu
Under a vegetable dish: roasted celeriac, beet, or hispi with a mirror of jus.
With meat and poultry when you want one jus for a mixed table.
As a base for your own sauces: pepper, morel, Madeira, or a bound vegetable jus.
In a plant-based stock or braise as a flavor-builder with body.
For your menu
“Roasted celeriac, plant-based jus VOL5, seasonal vegetable”
Products from VOL5
What we carry from this maker
VOL5 plant-based jus, per liter
Single liter to taste and work with. Frozen.
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Taste it in your own kitchen
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