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The
‘Yellow Gochsheimer’
The story behind
the yellow carrot
All carrots used to be yellow or white when first cultivated. But in the 17th century Dutch farmers started to cultivate an orange carrot, in honour of their king William of Orange. Soon this new type of carrot had become the new standard and the yellow carrot vanished from fields and gardens, forgotten for the sake of the new variety.
But in 2016 a group of five Demeter famers in Southern Germany decided to give the yellow carrot another chance and soon rediscovering its unique quality.
Our Real Food Tasting provides the perfect opportunity to experience how the yellow carrot really just lightens up even the gloomiest winter day. It seems to increase our life force and emanate a warmth that not only strengthens our digestion but also our mind.
The ‘Sun Carrot’ Juice
The ‘Sun Carrot’ Juice
We were not the only ones interested in the unique character of the yellow carrot.
The first harvest was sold out within days. Stefan Voelkel from voelkeljuice.de., the Real Food Foundation and Friedhardt Bühler, a bio-dynamic farmer joined forces and the first ‘Yellow Gochsheimer’ Carrot Juice was produced.
Now available at selected whole food shops or online at voelkeljuice.de
Heliaro
Wheat
Wheat grown in the summer sun
This variety of yellow wheat was cultivated by Hartmut Spieß from an old Swedish wheat. It has an illuminating, light composition when processed.
It is grown on the bio-dynamic farm Louisgarde in Hohenlohe (www.gaertnerei-louisgarde.de),
the bakers from Lehenhof (www.lehenhof.de), the ‘Vegan Cookie Lady’ Jutta Petri (mossa-manufaktur.de) and Anne D. and the team from the ‘Eselsmühle’ (eselsmühle.com) joined us to make this grain more available to customers. Many of their products are made from this unique flour.
Broccoli ‘Rasmus’
Broccoli ‘Rasmus’
Diverse – vibrant – fertile
‘Rasmus’ is an open pollinated variety of broccoli, meaning it can reproduce without human involvement. So it is fertile and reproducable. According to the grower Christian Henatsch this gives the Rasmus broccoli a unique quality that has a centring, vitalising effect on the body and even seems to be boosting respiration.
Cultivating this broccoli isn’t easy. It is sensitive to sun light and heat. On warm summer days it is quick to blossom. As consumers we are used to hybrid plants, meaning we expect a perfectly formed, one-pound heavy, evenly green broccoli.
Rasmus broccoli does not always meet this standard. Naturally it is more diverse, often differing in colour or shape. But therefore, also much livelier and it is fuller in flavour than the regular broccoli.
Many farmers grow broccoli in dark poly-tunnels, therefore limiting and controlling light and growth. Regulated shade and watering create these standard plants that we know from the supermarket.
At this point we would like to thank Klaus Weis for giving ‘Rasmus’ a chance, so that we may enjoy the unique taste of this broccoli.
‘The best spot to grow the broccoli’, says Klaus,’ is under the trees. There they have the shade and are additionally moisturised by dew at dawn and dusk.’ The best broccoli was grown on just such a spot. Once again, nature knows best.
Seedlings –
the original power food
Germinated seeds’
hidden value
As long as humans have cultivated crops, they have soaked grains before preparing or consuming them. This germinating of the seeds is a moment of heightened vitality, as the they come to life, wanting to grow. In terms of nutrients this means that the seedlings are activating their metabolisms and the bioavailability is increased.
Our intake of trace minerals, vitamins and other mineral substances is optimised as antienzymes and phytic acid is minimised during the process of germination in order to boost growth. Naturally the awakening of the seeds’ life is a moment of intense unfolding of energy. When consuming seedlings, we can therefore maximise our intake of life sustaining substances.