The huge flower auction Flora Holland is next door. Small town Monster is not intimidated. It has a jungle hidden from sight and a secret Garden of Eden where your tastebuds are tempted. Monster has Koppert Cress, a Holland greenhouse growing good food.
North Sea & Greenhouse Cycling
The Dutch Glass City is a bike ride away from my home near The Hague. When there is an event or conference I hop on my bike and cycle through the polders, meadows and greenhouses or take the cycling route along the North Sea. Enroute I stop for some good food. Fruit and vegetables grown in the Holland greenhouses. Marja, who I recently met in an event at Hortiheroes, is a true specialist when it comes to finding places to buy local food in the Glass City while cycling.
Holland Greenhouse Growing Good Food
This time we meet at Koppert Cress. This is a Holland greenhouse growing good food. In this context, when I say good food I mean garden cress. Did you know that the cress is high in nutrients and contains different vitamines and essential minerals? Take the sprouts of broccoli, the broccocress. To get the same amount of nutrients as broccoli you need a much smaller quantity of cress. Hint: this is one of the few Koppert cresses you can buy in the supermarket (!)
Top chefs in restaurants all over the world use the cress, fresh or dried, in dressings, soups, salads, sandwiches. The effect of the cress is biggest when you consume it raw. Which is what we did ( keep reading 😉 )
Cressperience
To keep their product exclusive Koppert focusses on the restaurants. Every once in a while the company organises an evening for all those interested in the Cress lifestyle, in Holland greenhouses growing good food. The evening is a tasting experience which starts in a jungle room. 
The organisers then serve several cresses and flowers. 
Electrifying Edible Flower
The yellow bud in the picture is especially worth mentioning. It is a Sechuan button. It is like fireworks exploding in your mouth and stimulates the production of saliva. An interesting, somewhat uncomfortable sensation. It supposedly cleanse the palate.
Garden of Tasteful Discoveries
After this buzzing experience we enter the Garden of Eden that tempts the tastebuds. Every plant here is edible. From salty sea vegetables to chocolate mint, from sour leaves to tropical spinach. My mouth, my lips, my tongue, all exhausted from these tasteful discoveries.
Dutch Cuisine
Koppert Cress is not just a Holland greenhouse growing good food. It also promotes Dutch Cuisine, which mainly uses seasonal vegetables and fruit ( 80%) and only a small amount of fish or meat ( 20%). In this ‘consumers’ event ‘ we get to taste what they usually serve in their company’s canteen.
Back to Nature
After this great meal I head home through the most amazing landscape.
You might also like
On a Bike to a Greenhouse in South Holland
3 beautiful villages Holland a daytrip away from Amsterdam
