‘Hutspot’ Battle

Who will win the ‘Golden Masher’? That was the big question on everyone’s lips the 29th of November at a ROC Friese Poort, a college in Emmeloord. In the canteen, 10 teams of students from various secondary schools around the region competed in the first edition of the ‘Hutspot Battle’. A battle for the best Dutch dish that contains potatoes, carrots and (of course) onions.

In the end, the classmates from the Zuyderzee Lyceum were unanimously chosen as the winners. According to the jury of experts consisting of the Youth Mayor of the province of Noordoostpolder Nynke Feenstra, Alderman Marian Uitdewilligen and popular vlogger Anouar Vines, they had prepared the most delicious hutspot of the competition.

Hutspot event
In addition to winning the Golden Masher, the team also has the honor of their recipe being chosen to prepare the hutspot for the annual Agrofood Cluster Hutspot Event scheduled for 12 December. The winners are therefore extremely proud.

Of course Waterman Onions was also there, as you can’t make hutspot without onions. In addition to supplying all of the onions for the competition, Erik Waterman also hosted the event and gave the participants some handy tips about onions. The competition was a fun way to introduce young people to the world of pure and healthy nutrition. #weloveonions

 

 

Smart, fast, and simply more sustainable

Transport by water may not seem devious at first sight, but experience has proven that it is anything but. The innovative new partnership between transporter Maersk, container terminal CTU and Waterman Onions in the Flevokust Port that opened in the province of Flevoland in 2018 makes a big difference.

Traffic

Waterman Onions Director Erik Waterman explains: “Waterman Onions was one of the very first users at CTU Flevokust, and we’ve benefited a great deal from the change. Until just a few years ago, we were completely unfamiliar with inland shipping, but we were not happy with all the traffic on the road and the long waiting times, especially at the Port of Rotterdam.

Transport over the water is simply a smart alternative to road transport. This partnership has made us more effective and allows us to help our customers faster than ever before. An important bonus is the fact that we’re now considerably more sustainable.”

Read the whole article.

A branch visit

It was a good ending to yet another productive work week. On Friday, 15 November, we welcomed almost 200 participants to the international Quality Inside Onion symposium at Waterman Onions.

The visit was part of a two-day event organised by De Groot en Slot. The company celebrated the 50th anniversary of its partnership with Bejo Netherlands and an anniversary of its subsidiary Broer B.V.

Onion specialists from around the world were invited to discuss issues such as quality in growing, storage and export of onions, innovations in the field of breeding, and onion processing. Naturally, they also took the opportunity to talk about the latest developments in the branch.

The Quality Inside Onion symposium was well-organized, and the visit to Emmeloord was an excellent end to the event. We were pleased and proud to have made a contribution to the symposium’s success.

Old new harvest

Reporter Rens, from the well-known Dutch television programme ‘Keuringsdienst van Waarde’, wondered how ‘new’ the onions in the supermarket with the label ‘new harvest’ were exactly. But he also wanted to find out how ‘old’ the onions are that don’t have that label? In other words, he wanted to learn how onions could stay ‘fresh’ for so long. Of course, we had an answer for him.

It all depends on the right type of soil and the knowledge and experience about growing these beautiful, strong Dutch onions, which can be stored almost all year long thanks to their good quality. The storage also requires certain special techniques. At Waterman, we ensure that our onions are stored at exactly the right temperature and humidity, so our onions still taste delicious and can be shipped around the world for more than ten months after harvest.

Excellent report
Rens made an excellent report of our interview to answer his question. Check out the video, and pay special attention to his reaction to the amount of onions we store in Emmeloord. We definitely enjoyed telling him all about our wonderful onions!

Keuringsdienst van Waarde
The programme ‘Keuringsdienst van Waarde’ tells the stories of the products in our shopping baskets. The Dutch television show investigates what producers and manufacturers present to us as consumers, and whether the claims they make and the advertising they publish are actually true.

Watch the report.