Fresh from the region onto the table

It begins with freshly harvested foodstuffs. The sandy soil provides optimum conditions for asparagus to thrive between the Rhine and Meuse rivers. The noble vegetable is sold to consumers fresh from the field at the many farm shops – asparagus couldn’t be any crunchier than this when it lands in your shopping basket.

And that doesn’t just apply to the royal vegetable but also strawberries, the sweet fruits, and for the many cabbage and potato varieties that are grown on the fields of the Lower Rhine and sold freshly harvested directly from farms. These farm shops are pilgrimage sites for people of good taste who appreciate fresh products. And those who arrive at the farm after closing time can always get fresh products from vending machines. That’s modern country service.

Just like the offerings at the many lovingly furnished farm cafés in the region. Fresh produce from the farm comes to your restaurant plate perfectly prepared. From homemade cake to goose leg with red cabbage and from the Lower Rhenish afternoon coffee break to kale with Kassler (salted and smoked pork).

And products manufactured in small quantities, such as ‘handmade food products’ with preserves made from homegrown fruit or dairy products from farmhouse dairies, can be found among the local cottage industries.

Homegrown fruits also form the basis for exquisite fruit juices from the Lower Rhine. These top products have high standing in gourmet gastronomy. At Lower Rhenish breweries, fans of barley juice can brew their own beer and, in the process, also get to know the region’s speciality, ‘Altbier’. Products with a higher proof come from the small distilleries between the Rhine and Meuse rivers. But they also rely on fruit from Lower Rhenish meadow orchards for their exquisite distillates. Because organic quality pays off.