Tales of local commodities

Red Cabbage from Samsø

There is Nothing Better than Red Cabbage from Samsø

Fields of red cabbage are an impressive sight; rows and ranks of beautiful bluish red colours. Orange pumpkin spread over the hill tops while beetroots stand with their dark red leafs and grow to be great and splendid.

Ready before Christmas

Red cabbage is harvested in September. Their round heads are sliced, boiled and pickled on Samsø and then sent to the rest of Denmark – ready for the nation’s Christmas feast. Tractor upon tractor unload the swathes of red cabbage onto a large pile. From here, they are cleaned in the washing tub and transported directly to the slicing machine. A conveyor belt transports the sliced cabbage into large cooking vessels and once ready, they are put in cans, buckets or glass containers depending on the wishes of the customer.

Later on it is the beetroots’ turn. Autumn is the busiest time of year as most vegetables must be harvested and pickled before Christmas. 25-60 employees working in three teams take care of all of this, whilst a regular team of 25 people take care of the lower output the rest of the year.

Local Produce

The majority of produce comes from the vegetable farmers on Samsø including one who delivers organic pumpkins and red cabbage.

Niche Production

The Samsø Syltefabrik (Samsø Pickle Factory) also make smaller scale productions of things like mustard and specially spiced variants of pickled products. There are many exciting ways to bring home a taste of Samsø.

While red cabbage can be found on regular shelves of your local supermarket, you have to go find the delicatessen shelves containing items from Samsø to find the best pumpkin soup.

Watch this film about the premium red cabbage from Samsø.

Last updated: 12/08/2020 13:18