Drawing.
Sauerkraut cabbage in Geispolsheim on July 4, 2018. -
G. Varela / 20 Minutes
The second confinement took place in the middle of the cabbage harvest period.
A bad deal for the sauerkraut industry in Alsace because stocks are waiting for customers.
Several initiatives to help cabbage and sauerkraut producers are being implemented in the region to support the sector.
In this month of December, university restaurants in Alsace will offer many variations of sauerkraut to students, because the general slogan is: "Eat cabbage".
You might as well say it right away, things are going to be turbulent in university restaurants in Strasbourg and Alsace with the Crous “Save the cabbage” operation.
The students will taste the famous vegetable in all its… roots.
The city of Strasbourg is participating in the operation in the canteens and self-service rooms of the administrative center, but also for school meals, via "the call for the mobilization of all stakeholders to support the cabbage industry", emphasizes Antoine Neumann, the "agriculture man" of the new Strasbourg municipal team.
Because sauerkraut is "dear to Alsace, culturally and economically".
It must be said that it represents 70% of national production.
On the plates of Crous d'Alsace, we will find sauerkraut with ginger caramelized with bacon… Does that whet your appetite?
Karine, a student, feasts in advance: “It will give me recipe ideas because I don't really know what to do with cabbage and it's not expensive so it can definitely help me.
"Same satisfaction at Djemiane:" It's not easy every day, I lost my student job.
So frankly if it in return helps producers, it's a win-win, that's great!
»More circumspect but voluntary, Eric admits« not to like too much but to be ready to eat it every day if necessary.
After that, we have to see if the sacrifice can really help the producers, that would surprise me ”.
A little schoolboy, his friend emphasizes that "anyway, the lessons are not face-to-face, so it's okay" ...
Sauerkraut trees avoid the worst thanks to an ad
Good intentions in any case which could help boost producers' morale.
"The profession has sounded the alarm siren for a month now," said David Joly, president of the Alsace sauerkraut cabbage producers union.
With the re-containment, the sauerkraut remained on their hands.
At the worst moment, after a spring outing and a complicated start to summer for the plantations because of the drought, the second confinement in October "suddenly brought down sales of sauerkraut and therefore complicated the harvest" , explains David Joly.
Problem, for the industry, “it's a big period when sauerkraut is starting to sell well, where it is tasted the most with the drop in temperatures.
"Suffice to say that" the closing of restaurants, Christmas markets, the cancellation of company meals, the production of cabbages almost remained in the fields because the vats were already full and it was not possible to take in all the culture.
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Sauerkraut cabbage.
Geispolsheim on July 4, 2018. - G. Varela / 20 Minutes
It is an advertising campaign to "encourage people to eat sauerkraut, to change our eating habits a little, which made it possible to avoid the worst," assures the farmer.
“The communities and the people have shown solidarity with the industry.
We were able to bring in almost all of our crops.
But now, "the fears carry over to next year," says David Joly.
A possible surplus of sauerkraut could weigh on future planting quotas, contracts and the purchase price per kilo which will be signed at the start of the year.
"We already have echoes of buyers from central purchasing, supermarkets, who see the large amount of supply and want to cut prices, but that will not be the case, warns the farmer.
To remedy this, we will plant less even if it will cause us financial harm while we were hoping for a slight increase in the buy-back price per kilo ”, recalls David Joly.
In the meantime, in the Crous d'Alsace, it's time to sit down and taste one of the sauerkraut-based recipes.
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