When you walk into your local Loblaws, you will see shelves and bins filled with fresh produce. You might be looking for the largest head of lettuce, the fullest bunch of cilantro, the reddest apples, or the best-priced carrots. But while you’re doing your shopping, or eating what you made from it, do you ever wonder where your produce comes from? In-store, Loblaws labels produce as local, so you know where your food comes from.
Thanks to Loblaws, I was able to see exactly where some of my favourite veggies came from. And to my surprise, it was just a quick Uber ride away!
I had the opportunity to visit family-run Gourmet Acres Farm in Greeley, about half an hour south of downtown Ottawa. Francis and his wife run the farm, and provide tens of thousands of fresh broccoli and cauliflower to Loblaws.
While I was visiting during harvest season (late September/early October), the growing process started back in April and May.
The process for growing broccoli and cauliflower are similar. Thousands of flats like those pictured above are filled with a sanitized medium and individual seeds are placed inside each little pot. Once filled, these flats are placed into one of the greenhouses.
After a few weeks, once the plants have sprouted several inches tall, they are taken out of the greenhouses and are stacked on shelves outside to acclimate them to the elements. After another couple of weeks, they are transplanted in the fields.
Once a batch leaves the greenhouses, another one will replace it, so there are rolling planting and harvest times, to prevent less waste.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heAJe4a9cFs&w=270&h=480]
Our first stop was an untouched broccoli field. Stepping onto it was quite an experience — huge, dark brassica leaves filled the land, almost as far as the eye could see. The smell of the broccoli was strong as if I was standing in a steamer filled with them. The field was several hundred acres, and a good harvest could yield thousands of broccoli heads.
Peering into a cluster of leaves, I saw my first broccoli of the day: happy and healthy and still growing. Francis explained to me that this field was ready to be harvested within a few days, rain or shine.
We hopped back on the tractor and headed to a broccoli field that was being harvested. In the distance, I could see another tractor pulling a trailer and a platform.
Getting closer to them, I saw sixteen men, some on the ground and some on the platform. The men on the ground were chopping broccoli heads from stalks and leaves with big machetes. They pulled off excess leaves and placed them in crates on the platform. The men on the platform would examine the broccoli, keeping all that passed their inspection, and tossing any that did not back into the field, so that they could be composted back into the ground. The men on the platform were standing around tables, but I couldn’t quite see what they were doing from the ground, so I hopped up onto the platform to get a better look.
On the platform, I could see that the men were sticking heads of broccoli heads into metal boxes. These boxes, or broccoli branding machines, put elastics with product codes around the bunches. The machines also trimmed the ends of the broccoli so that the stalks were even. Once complete, the broccoli was placed in reusable plastic pallets. Once the pallets were full, they were stacked and transported back to a giant fridge to keep cool until they were shipped to local stores.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6ZM5w2332c&w=270&h=480]
Next, we headed to a cauliflower field. The growing process is much the same, although cauliflower takes less time to mature. At first, the field itself looked very much like the broccoli field, except it didn’t smell like anything.
However, Francis pointed out that every plant’s leaves were bunched up and tied around the cauliflower heads. This stops the sun from yellowing the florets, leaving them a nice bright white. Different colours of elastic bands help mark when plants were tied so that workers know when to harvest different crops.
Harvesting cauliflower is a bit less labour intensive than broccoli. Heads are grown bigger, so they don’t need to be bunched together in pairs. Like the broccoli plants, workers on the ground will chop at the plants with machetes, but workers on the platform will trim the leaves and check the quality of the vegetables. Some leaves are left on the heads, because they protect from bruising. The heads are then placed in waxed boxes and brought to the giant refrigerator at the farm.
I was surprised to see how much labour went into harvesting these popular vegetables. I had thought that such large-scale farming would be mechanized It’s hard work, and it’s a rush against time to harvest everything before flowering. Once broccoli and cauliflower start to flower, it’s too late. The veggie loses its flavour when that happens. Also, the seeds from the flowers cannot be used, as they might have been cross-pollinated with other plants. So if part of a field, or even a whole field, is not harvested in time, that crop will have gone to waste. That can be disastrous for Francis, his family, and his workers too.
Meeting Francis, touring his farm, and seeing this whole process has been eye-opening, and it changed the way I see the produce at my local Loblaws. I have a big appreciation for farmers, and I LOVE that Loblaws works with local farmers to bring the freshest produce possible to Canadians. I hope that after reading this, you do too!
Francis had picked these cauliflowers right from the field for me! I wanted to create a couple of recipes that display how beautiful they are, and have minimal waste. All the ingredients are available at your local Loblaws too!
Recipe for Honey-Thyme Cauliflower Steak
Ingredients
1 head of cauliflower, including leaves and stalk
3 tbsp grapeseed or olive oil
1 tbsp honey
2 tsp fresh thyme
S&P to taste
3 large cloves of garlic
1-2 tsp butter
Pickled red onion *
Vegetable ash *
* recipes below
Instructions
- Cut off leaves and stem from cauliflower head. Set aside.
- Resting the cauliflower on the stem, use a large sharp knife to cut the cauliflower into 2 or 3 thick “steaks”, depending on the size of the cauliflower. Reserve sides and leftover florets for another use (see below).
- Add honey to a small bowl and microwave/heat for 15 seconds, until watery. Add oil, thyme, and S&P. Whisk quickly to mix everything together.
- Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Brush each side of the steaks with honey-oil mixture and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Extra florets from step (2.) can be tossed with excess mixture and added to the baking sheet. Bake for 15-25 minutes per side, until golden brown.
- While steaks are cooking, chop garlic. On medium heat, warm a small frying pan and add grapeseed or olive oil. Add cauliflower leaves (if they have a thick stem, shave it down). Add garlic and butter. Sauté lightly until leaves are softened and bright green and garlic is fragrant. Remove leaves from garlic. Save garlic for another use (see below).
- Take steaks out of oven. Top with cooked leaves, pickled onions, and thinly sliced raw cauliflower. Sprinkle with fresh thyme and garnish with vegetable ash. Enjoy!
Recipe for Easy Quick Pickled Red Onion
Ingredients
1 small or medium red onion
½ cup apple cider or white wine vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
Instructions
- Mix vinegar, sugar, and salt in a small jar or bowl, until solids have completely dissolved.
- Thinly slice red onion with a mandolin. Pack into small jar or bowl. Make sure slices are completely immersed in mixture (can shake jar).
- Let sit for at least 10 minutes.
Recipe for Vegetable Ash
Vegetable ash is a really easy way of reducing food waste. While charred vegetable scraps might not be that healthy, ash looks impressive and can dress up any dish. A great hack is covering inexpensive goat or brie cheeses for an impressive charcuterie board!
Ingredients
Any vegetable scraps, such as old leafy greens, onion skins, garlic skins, leafy vegetable tops, carrot and potato skins, vegetables that have dried out. The thinner the scraps, the faster this is to make.
Instructions
- Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place all scraps on sheet in a single layer.
- Broil at 425 degrees F until completely blackened (make sure to toss scraps to ensure thorough carbonization). Be sure to keep an eye on scraps — they can be ready in only a few minutes.
- Once completely blackened, take out and let cool. Depending on the amount of scraps carbonized, either grind with a blender or just use a mortar and pestle.
- Store in a glass jar, use sparingly.
Recipe for Sautéed Cauliflower in Garlic Beurre Blanc
There are always a lot of cauliflower florets left over when you make cauliflower steaks. I didn’t want them to go to waste, and I also wanted to use the garlic butter leftover from the sautéed leaves in my previous recipe! (It’s a great way of using any leftover wine from dinner too)
Ingredients
Leftover cauliflower florets from above
Leftover garlic butter from above
1 cup dry white wine
½ cup white wine vinegar
1 large shallot, finely chopped
Up to 1 lb unsalted butter, cubed
Fresh thyme
Salt and pepper
Vegetable ash
Instructions
- On medium-low, heat up saucepan with garlic butter. Add cauliflower bits and toss occasionally, until cooked but still crunchy.
- At the same time, heat wine, vinegar, and shallots in a saucepan until liquid boils. Lower heat and let simmer until liquid has reduced to about 2 Tbsps.
- Add a few butter cubes to reduction, while whisking rapidly.
- Keep adding butter cubes as butter melts. Continue until most butter is used. Take off heat and mix in the rest of the cubes. The finished sauce should be thick and smooth. Straining out the shallots is optional
- Plate cauliflower and pour on sauce. Add S&P and thyme to taste. Garnish with vegetable ash. Enjoy!