Because the good is so close! In addition to lemon and blood oranges, our Vivi sodas also contain ginger. And it practically comes from our neighbors — we buy it from the Müller family business and organic farm in Steinmaur*.
Between lush green meadows, magnificent sunflower fields and huge tractors, the man of the hour greets us on a sunny autumn day: Samuel Müller, manager of the Müller organic farm in Steinmaur, Zurich. His father, Stefan Müller, completely converted the farm from animal husbandry to vegetable farming around 50 years ago. This also explains why we mainly come across vast fields and large greenhouses during our visit.
Since 1995, the Müllers' farm has been a purely organic farm, of which they are extremely proud. Their principle: quality over quantity. Organic farming takes time because, among other things, the natural maturation of all types is required.
The Müllers started growing ginger eight years ago — just as the hype was taking hold in Europe. In a sense, the Müllers are among the pioneers in Switzerland. She also had a lovely family story: Samuel Müller's sister got married in Portland, which is why the whole family traveled to the USA. Father Stefan Müller discovered fresh ginger for the first time at a market in Portland. Fascinated by the plant, he absolutely wanted to bring it to Switzerland. Today, Samuel Müller grows two varieties of ginger on the organic farm: Peruvian and Chinese ginger. He also shows us the greenhouses in which the ginger for our Vivi Sodas grows.
Ginger is a semi-shade plant that needs warm temperatures and does not tolerate too much sun. Therefore, the greenhouses are shaded. Cultivation takes place in April, harvesting from September to December, depending on weather conditions. Samuel Müller explains to us that the hot and dry temperatures have led to a more modest harvest this year than in the previous year. Ginger is also very susceptible to pests, which requires tact. Since organic farming uses only organic fertiliser instead of synthetic fertilizer, pest control is a challenge. “When it comes to organic production, you just have to be aware that not everything is always perfect,” says Samuel Müller.
Chinese ginger is used for our Vivi sodas. This is characterized by a pleasant spiciness and is visibly larger than the Peruvian one. Samuel Müller digs out a special tuber for us so that we can convince ourselves of the taste. And we can confirm: it's really sharp! Nice to know: When growing ginger, everything is used down to the style and thus produces zero waste. The style is composted — a nice cycle. Even press cake (remaining solids/residues from the press) is used for ginger beer.
Ginger should be harvested before the leaves turn yellow. The younger it is harvested, the juicier and milder it is. Rotten and unusable tubers are picked out, the stems are cut off. The good guys go into green harasses, are washed and disarmed. True to the motto: The good ones in the potty, the bad ones in the crout.
The ginger then makes its way to the Brunner cider plant. There, it is crushed and pressed. The direct juice is filled into bags and pasteurized, as the ginger concentrate only has a short shelf life due to its low sugar content and requires cool storage.
Last step: The ginger concentrate comes to us at the Vivi factory in Eglisau, we mix it with the fruit juice concentrate of lemon or blood orange and some cane sugar: The sodas with the fresh organic ginger from Steinmaur are ready for sale!
{{image-gallery}}
Here is our blog post about our lemons and oranges from Sicily:
