COMMERCIAL GARDEN COOKERY

The challenge has been in finding a system that allows restaurants to cook with fresh herbs daily that have stronger consistent flavour. As Elite Herbs™ are clonal herbs grown from cuttings, some challenges in production needed to be overcome, and now that the system for growing them is working, Ozbreed can offer a complete system for restaurants.

Fresh herbs are grown in suitable nurseries in 12.5cm pots. It is envisaged the Elite Herbs™ should be available nine months of the year. In winter supply of clonal herbs is difficult, so in the winter months, if the supply of fresh Elite Herbs™ is not available, it is envisaged that dried and/or frozen Elite Herbs™ could be used as a back-up. Ozbreed is aiming to make these available towards the end of 2017.

While it would be ideal to have a full twelve month run of clonal herbs available to commercial kitchens, seed grown herbs are easier to grow out of season than clonal herbs, yet only clonal herbs have the consistent strength of flavor desired by chefs.

To bring the growth of consistently flavoured herbs into the commercial kitchen, Ozbreed has partnered with the developers of Vegepod; a revolutionary contained garden bed system that enables you to control the growth and quality of your herbs. This system, teamed with the Elite Herbs™ range, will give you the highest quality herbs with supreme robust flavour, ensuring the highest quality produce for your customers.

Vegepod systems come with a protective cover that allows you to create a greenhouse at your restaurant. The cover is a polyethylene knitted mesh that will protect your herbs from pests and UV, and also assist in managing temperature as it allows water and air to penetrate. Not only does the cover offer your herbs protection, but also accelerates the growth of your herbs by creating the ideal micro-climate for growth.

There are 2 options available for the Vegepod system:

OPTION 1 (highly recommended)

This self-caring system keeps your 'cut & cook' Elite Herbs™ fresh and ready for use for up to 10 days (7 days comfortably). It holds up to 80 x 12.5cm-wide pots ready for the restaurant to cut and cook fresh daily. Fresh daily harvesting ensures that these fully flavoured incredible Elite Herbs™ shine.

This is a specially modified version of the Vegepod sold online (Option 2). It has been specifically designed to grow your Elite Herbs™ in pots rather than directly planted in soil. It has a capillary watering system and has been designed to work in restaurants with some lighting.

OPTION 2

This is the standard Vegepod system available online. With this option, the Vegepod is set up with soil instead of the pots in option 1, and you grow the herbs in the soil. Option 1 allows for pots to be replaced easily, unfortunately planting directly into the soil does not give that option, and if your restaurant uses a larger number of herbs for cooking, option 1 would be the better option. However, if you decide that the standard soil Vegepod is a better choice for you there are 3 size options available.

The small system is 1m-long and 50cm-deep, the perfect size if you have limited outdoor space but still want to produce fresh tasty herbs for your dishes. The medium Vegepod is 1m-long by 1m-deep. This is still a convenient size if you have limited outdoor space but gives a little more room to grow more herbs.

The large system is 2m-long by 1m-deep, and is a great size is you have a larger amount of outdoor room at your restaurant. If you require even more room to grow your fresh Elite Herbs™, teaming two or even more of these systems together will guarantee you will have copious amounts of herbs for all your dishes.

To find out more about Ozbreed’s Cut & Cook Elite Herbs™ System contact Emil Montibeler on 0488 669 330 or email emil@ozbreed.com.au