The Field Guideby Moss & MarrowDe Ruijter Vlees & Meer
- Cattle, sheep or goats graze on pasture in the grazing season
De Ruijter Vlees & Meer is a family beef farm with a farm shop on the Noordzijdseweg in Polsbroek, in the Groene Hart, selling meat from its own herd of Belgian Blue (dikbil) and Black Angus cattle.
The cattle are born on the farm and graze the meadows there, and their website says they are fed grass, maize, beet pulp and grain, so the beef is not grass-fed. The range covers most of the animal: steaks, roasts and stewing cuts, 21-day dry-aged entrecote, short ribs, picanha, mince, beef sausage, shin for soup (schenkel) and marrow bones, plus 5 kg and 10 kg boxes made up from every part of the cow. The shop also sells scharrel pork from pigs that the supplier says roam meadows and woods, chicken, Iberico pork and deli goods from other suppliers, which aren't included in our checks.
The farm shop is open Wednesday to Friday from 12:00 to 17:00 and Saturday from 9:00 to 16:00, and has a lunchroom with a terrace. Webshop orders can be collected there, delivered twice a week in the villages around Polsbroek, Lopik, Oudewater and Schoonhoven, delivered weekly to towns such as IJsselstein, Gouda and Woerden, or shipped across the Netherlands on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Every beef cut is sold as coming from an animal born and raised on the farm.