Bio Cichorei | Fritz Vanlerberghe
Contracts
In Belgium and Holland, we are looking for good, certified Organic Farmers.
Step 1
Step 2
End of April, beginning of May, the Organic Chicory is seeded.
Seeding
Step 3
A first check happens at a very early stage in the growing process, where a first evaluation is made. A second check happens in September, to plan the delivery of the grown product.
Follow-up
Harvesting
In the beginning of October, the harvesting starts.
Step 4
Step 5
Delivery
The organic chicory roots are transported to the dryer in Passendale. Every freight has a delivery note with the corresponding Organic Certificate.
The product is kept separated with an unique number during the whole process.
Step 6
The Processing
Storage
The processing starts straight after the delivery in Passendale. There are 3 steps: washing, dutting and drying
After the Chicory is washed a first time, the weed is taken away manually, followed by a final wash.
Then, the chicory root is cut into cubes (1.50 cm x 1.50 cm x 1.50 cm).
The cubes are transported to the top level of the Ast, where they are equally distributed. The Organic Chicory is dried with warm air, with a temperature of 95 degrees during 18 hours. This temperature can’t get higher than 100 degrees of Celcius to avoid acrylamide. Three big ventilators suck the steam away in the open air.
The next day, the Chicory is dry for about 60%. Now, they are brought 1 level down, where they get warmed again for 18 hours. It’s only the 3rd day the product leaves the Ast. This whole above process is recurrent.
At no single point in the process, there is additional products added.
In our own storage in Passendale, the finished product is separately stored with his own unique number.
The delivery of the product is on-demand.
