Four organic farms in Vienna, in cooperation with Ja! Natürlich to launch the "Viennese Organic Soy Tofu" project - with the result that the first organic tofu products from Vienna are now hitting the shelves all over Austria. Around 100 tonnes of organic soy could be harvested jointly by the Viennese farmers Stefan Windisch, Stefan Weixlbraun, Michael Niedermayer and the Bio Stadtgut Laxenburg Wallhof in 2021. The soybeans are stored separately by farmer at the Bio-Agrarservice company until they are processed by the Chu family's "Evergreen" company, which specialises in sprouts and tofu. The respective Viennese organic soy producer is indicated on the product.
Combination of highest organic quality and regional origin is convincing
Together, the organic tofu products from Viennese soy beans were developed and subjected to strict tests. At the "test cooking" with the grande dame of vegetarian cuisine, Elisabeth Fischer, and the project initiator and chairman of the association "Soy from Austria", Karl Fischer, the prepared dishes more than convinced a panel of experts. In addition to the regional origin, there is a proven, excellent quality, which also convinced the Ja! Natürlich heads, Klaudia Atzmüller and Andreas Steidl: "We are very pleased to introduce a new product in the form of Ja! Natürlich Wiener Bio-Tofu, a new product that is not only purely plant-based, but also a completely regional product and thus particularly climate-friendly. This combination of regionality, transparency across all production steps and the highest organic standard fits perfectly with the Ja! Natürlich philosophy!"
The queen of protein plants
From the point of view of Viennese urban agriculture, the regional value chain is a particularly important factor and the President of the Viennese Chamber of Agriculture, Franz Windisch, is a true fan of the soy bean: "For me, the soy bean is the queen of protein crops. It has a particularly valuable amino acid pattern, which is important for the quality of the protein. It has 20 percent soybean oil and at least 40 percent protein - that's an enormous amount. Soybeans thrive in Vienna and the innovative products that come from them are flagships for Vienna as an agricultural location. At the same time, every product that comes out of it can be traced back to the producer, which is also a novelty."
A bean on the fast track
Vienna's urban agriculture focuses on regionality, quality and diversity. One of Vienna's youngest crops is the soybean, which now occupies fifth place by area, just behind field vegetables, with a cultivated area of 214 hectares, 90 hectares of which are organically farmed. This is not by chance, because the soybean has many advantages. Not only does it grow reliably, but as a legume it obtains about 80 per cent of the nitrogen necessary for growth from the air and therefore does not need any additional fertiliser, which has an extremely positive effect on the CO2 balance and at the same time lowers production costs.
Organic cultivation with a lot of labour input
Between 2018 and 2020, the area under soy cultivation in Vienna tripled - and the trend is still rising. There are good reasons for this: Soy grows reliably and produces an average yield of around 3,000 kilograms per hectare in the province of Vienna. In addition, there are still few pests and diseases from which the crop suffers. One challenge in organic cultivation is, of course, the control of weeds. Here, precise sowing is required, as weed control is carried out with a lot of effort, purely mechanically and sometimes even by hand. To achieve the best yields, a controlled crop rotation is also followed. Soy can also be grown two years in a row at the same location, as this allows more nodule bacteria to form in the soil, which bind the nitrogen from the air.
Ja! Natürlich Vienna Organic Smoked Tofu is available exclusively at BILLA Plus and Ja! Natürlich Wiener Bio-Tofu Natur is available at BILLA and BILLA Plus for € 2.49 each.
Recipe tips with Viennese Organic Soy Tofu:
https://www.janatuerlich.at/magazin/woraus-und-wie-wird-tofu-gemacht/
