SteirerKren

The farms.

SteirerKren is grown, as you can tell from the name, in Styria, mostly in the region of the town of Feldbach – and delivered by the farmers directly from the fields to the factory. Horseradish loves loamy soils, which are especially fertile thanks to their high proportion of decomposed minerals and ability to store nutrients and water effectively. 

Styrian horseradish PGI enjoys lavish care during its vegetation period and painstaking further processing. Every single root has to be dug up and replanted by hand several times in order to remove unnecessary side shoots from the main root. This is the only way to ensure SteirerKren’s unique quality of freshness. Fastidious selection guarantees that only horseradish roots of the highest level of quality are prepared.

It is only in Styria that horseradish roots are planted horizontally and dug up an additional time by the farmer. Thanks to this special method of cultivation, Styrian horseradish is said to possess a special spiciness.

The cultivation of Styrian horseradish PGI is thus notably more labour-intensive than, for example, that of pumpkins or maize. A field can only be planted with horseradish every three to four years because there has to be natural crop rotation in order to renew and stabilise soil fertility sustainably. Crop rotation is an essential constituent part of modern agricultural management and of conventional, as well as organic, farming.