Harwoods of London, the New Covent Garden Market (NCGM) catering distributor, and cress and microgreen breeder and grower Koppert Cress held an event at Mission Kitchen, at NCGM, to inspire London's chefs to use more of the Dutch supplier's microgreens in their culinary creations.
Koppert Cress is known for producing natural, innovative ingredients that chefs can use to intensify the flavour, aroma, or presentation of their dishes; products that meet the increasingly stringent requirements of restaurants worldwide. Chef Franck took them on a tour of the Koppert range, explaining the distinctive flavours and uses of a wide array of products – from Feathertops to Sechuan Buttons, and Floregano to Salty Fingers.
The group of chefs were welcomed into the specially designed Tasting Garden at Mission Kitchen by Chef Franck Pontais, Country & Culinary Manager of Koppert Cress, and Jim Dew, Managing Director of Harwoods of London.
A lunch created by Koppert's own chefs to showcase the company's range of varieties and tastes was bookended by a hands-on World of Plants workshop with Franck, in which he talked about and demonstrated the potential of premium microgreens and their role in changing modern cuisine.
"Our cresses are the freshly-sprouted seedlings of 100% natural aromatic plants," said Franck. "They offer a freshness and intensity of taste and aroma that, are only found in young seedlings." Adding that the plants are 'much more than cress," he outlined ways in which chefs can optimise usage (and minimise waste) by using parts of each plant that they may ordinarily have thrown away in innovative and delicious ways.
Harwoods has been selling Koppert's range to its customers for 30 years and is the number one distributor of the range in London. Jim said: "In my view, they are second to none, our customers love the quality and versatility and the point of difference that Koppert's wide range of flavours adds to their menus. We started out selling Daikon Cress and Shiso Purple and now we stock more than 40 of their lines throughout the year. The demand is phenomenal."
An extensive digital marketing campaign this summer has promoted Koppert microgreens in London and Harwoods is carrying out the distribution in its Koppert branded van.
Shortly before proposing La Santé du Chef, Franck said that Koppert's product is available to every chef in London, but too often, he hears that they don't know where it's available. "There is no excuse any more to say that you can't get hold of the product," he added. "Jim has it and he supplies wholesalers at New Covent Garden too. If you order it, Jim will have it the next day."
For more information:
Franck Pontais
Country & Culinary Manager
Koppert Cress
Email: [email protected]
www.koppertcress.com
Jim Dew
Managing Director
Harwoods of London
Email: [email protected]
www.harwoodsoflondon.com