The broccoli farmer knows his vegetable:
Broccoli is originally from Asia Minor, just like cauliflower, its close relative. The vegetable was already known and popular with the old Romans but it wasn’t until the sixties of the past century that broccoli became available in this country.
Only the flower buds and stalks are used for cooking.
The nutrients are very sensitive to heat. With a short cooking time they remain largely intact. Broccoli contains important minerals such as potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc, as well as vitamin C, beta-carotene and folic acid. The ingredients of broccoli appear to prevent cancer.
My name is Appler Franz and I own a farm here in Baumkirchen. Our main crops are broccoli, zucchini and lettuces, we sell these products mainly in Tyrol. Our farm has a size of approximately 10 ha, in the main season we have eight permanent employees.
Broccoli takes between eight and ten months to mature from planting until harvest. We plant from mid March until mid July in weekly sets to ensure continuous supply.
Only the main flower bud of broccoli is harvested, the leaves are removed. Broccoli is low in calories and contains relatively high amounts of vitamin A and C, which makes it an ideal diet product. We have been producing broccoli for 15 years, since two years we supply exclusively to MPREIS and for the last two years have supplied exclusively to MPREIS.
We plant 10.000 plants every week from which we obtain a harvest of 7-8000 good broccoli heads. The perfect time for harvest is shortly before it flowers. Due to the temperature differences between day and night, the broccoli matures much better than in other regions and develops better flavours.
In the early morning after the harvest the broccoli is immediately put in cold storage so that the core temperature is reduced to +1°C as soon as possible.
For better storage we pack our broccoli into plastic bags before we deliver. The bags are covered with a layer of crushed ice so that the temperature drops from 20°C to 1°C in a very short time. Another advantage of the bags is that they retain humidity, which helps keep the product fresh for a longer period of time. MPREIS is the only food store chain that packs broccoli in this way and is therefore able to offer maximum quality. The combination of a folded bag and crushed ice, a system that was developed in the USA, preserves freshness longer and better.