When I visited for the first time BIOFACH this year, I was lucky enough to get to know a veteran of the industry – LaSelva BIO-Delicatessen, an Italian family of connoisseurs with a pioneering spirit from Munich. LaSelva took its first steps into the field of organic farming 40 years ago. This makes Toscana one of the proverbial cradles of organic farming in Europe.
The farm building of the current organic farm was built by the Spaniards early 17th century and first served as a reloading point and granary. LaSelva is located in the Maremma – a formerly swampy landscape on the Tyrrhenian sea coast – the southern part of Tuscany. La Selva means “the forest or the wilderness” and is also a reference to the location of the estate, close to the woods and the Parco Regionale della Maremma nature reserve.
Karl Egger, born in Bavaria, is responsible for the enterprise. He noticed early on that the quality of our everyday food was deteriorating. Karl Egger’s reasons for taking a closer look at the subject of BIO and ultimately even running his own farm were manifold.
Already in the eighties, it was leaked from the USA, that fruit damaging poisons were found in the food – this horrified Karl Egger, who is very close to nature, so much that he wanted to contribute to a change in thinking.
From his point of view, it had to be possible to capture the intensive, unadulterated and natural taste of freshly harvested field crops only with a few, noble ingredients and without unnecessary additives – above all, withoutanything questionable.
Karl Egger has always been a down-to-earth epicurean – he knew Tuscany well due to many travels and he wanted to be closer to nature again. It was important to him, to be able to experience the seasons consciously. So, in 1980 came the turning point for Karl Egger – he moved his life to Tuscany and started his project of organic farming & BIO delicatessen.
His project was primarily concerned with ensuring that organic farming produced good, pure and tasty food and, if possible, based on traditional Tuscan recipes. So boiled tomatoes, salsas and pelati were the first products of the young company, which started its triumphal procession with just seven hectares of land.
Karl Egger recognised early on that this could only be possible if the preservation of the diversity of nature and the animal world was actively promoted. Forty years ago he already knew how important bees were in this context – today, when we miss these pollinators painfully in many places – and when campaigns are started to re-establish them, the LaSelva estate has been living in harmony with these industrious little animals for decades – and both benefit from each other.
The completely poison-free organic farming also attracts many birds, as all kinds of insects have found a refuge here – like a giant insect hotel, so to speak – the natural processes are still right here. LaSelva works together with ornithologists to protect and preserve the native birds and their habitats. For this purpose, optimal nesting conditions were created in only 40 years by planting 7,000 native shrubs and trees and establishing wetlands.
Besides the mineral-rich soil and the Tyrrhenian sea climate, LaSelva’s Chianina cattle from central Italy are a guarantee for great results. The dung of the animals is an important part of the farm on LaSelva for the internal compost production and as fertilizer for the ecological cultivation areas. Here, the animals are still cultivated in a cycle and crop rotation is observed. In addition, targeted ecological soil preparation is one of the keys to success at LaSelva. In 1984, when there was not yet an organic regulation in Europe, LaSelva was the first foreign partner farm of the organic association Naturland e.V. Karl Egger was already a member of the founding circle and Dr. Richard Storhas, the later president and managing director, closest adviser and regular guest on LaSelva .
In Egger’s opinion, the topic of BIO has often been politically exploited in Germany. He found the right partner in Naturland because it was already stipulated in the statutes that the members would not be interested in politics or philosophy.
The LaSelva team has always been more of a family than a workforce, as I noticed during the short time of the press event to mark the 40th anniversary of the company’s founding. Here, whole families have been working with pleasure in organic farming for generations. You could see this when the anniversary and BIOFACH 2020 coincided so well.
A little over a hundred employees work on the estate. As required, the staff from the local area is seasonally increased. LaSelva currently employs a total of 286 people in Italy and internationally in cultivation, processing and sales. LaSelva enjoys an excellent reputation as a fair employer and the seasonal workers are also happy to come back every year.
In the beginning the ecologically produced products were only sold through the small farm shop and directly to friends & neighbours. The farm shop with daily fresh fruit and vegetables still exists today, but LaSelva’s products are now in demand throughout Europe – even beyond the European borders in the USA or Japan.
In 2019 LaSelva had a consolidated total turnover of more than 20 million euros – a volume that no one could have predicted 40 years ago. The seven hectares have now become 707 organically cultivated areas, not forgetting the 124 hectares of unmanaged compensation areas and retreat areas for wildlife already mentioned.
Since the foundation of LaSelva, not only the area of land cultivated by LaSelva has increased enormously, but also the efficiency of production. Whether 100,000 jars of semi-dried tomatoes created in the manufactory, 50,000 artichokes peeled by hand or 11 million tomato specialities bottled in the organic tomato processing plant – a total of around 20 million delicatessen and natural food jars of the diverse Mediterranean range produced annually for sale to the world.
It takes a maximum of 24 hours until the freshly harvested vegetables are processed in the farm’s own antipasti manufacture and in the company’s own tomato factory for antipasti, pesto, salsa, passata and much more according to typical Tuscan recipes. Because of the taste and vitality of the products, LaSelva always tries to position itself seasonally – only in this way is it possible to get the best out of the respective fruit, vegetables or grapes at the ideal time of maturity naturally.
The most of the LaSelva products are free of yeast, lactose and gluten and therefore not only popular with vegans & vegetarians. If you are looking for a healthy diet and at the same time value good taste with authentic flavours, then choose these high-quality organic products from Tuscany. Take a look at the recipes on the LaSelva website – it just gives you appetite.
Today, LaSelva’s portfolio is so extensive that you could probably eat 100% of their products without feeling any shortage. Over 200 different, typical Tuscan organic delicatessen products are available for purchase. Among them, besides the almost infinite number of tomato products, you can also find healthy soups, delicious creams (e.g. with porcini mushrooms for bruschetta), polenta, various types of rice & risottos, pasta, vinegar, balsamic creams & oils, pulses, products based on the highly praised LaSelva organic basil, jams – for example the delicious LaSelva mandarin jam – honeys, even pastries and exquisite Italian coffees and much, much more.
Yes, and of course – in case some of you have been frightened of losing something… 😉 – with the Cantina LaSelva brand, LaSelva also grows its own organic wine and vinifies it in its own wine cellar in the “Morellino di Scansano DOCG” production area – in addition, Cantina LaSelva also has excellent grappas. For several years now, the professionals have been pressing their own range of modern organic wines under the direction of winemaker Roland Krebser – and Giulio Serafinelli – who is following in his footsteps this year – 15 in all.
These wines have a very low sulphur content due to the grapes and growing condition, are vegan and mainly made from local grape varieties such as Sangiovese, Ciliegiolo or the rediscovered grape variety Pugnitello – here too it is worth “tasting” more closely.
Many of the LaSelva products could be tasted at the BIOFACH. As part of the press launch and simultaneous announcement of the 40th anniversary, some of the Cantina LaSelva wines were also served at the booth.
During the speeches, a salad made from the first fresh artichokes of the season and pecorino from the sheep of the LaSelva quality manager was also conjured up live – in addition to the served canapés with LaSelva fennel, oranges and dried olives a culinary highlight.
For the 40th there are some products whose label is marked with the 4 and instead of a zero, the respective product. So, a forty with artichoke, tomato, basil leaf or grape with wine – a really nice idea for reuse as storage glass.
Among others, Daniele Zauli, the agricultural manager since 1982, was honoured at BIOFACH – who, as he said, had the ideal job. For almost forty years he was able to work where he liked it best and he had fun every day – who can say that about his job – now he is going into well-deserved retirement.
2015 – that is, after 35 years at the head of LaSelva, Karl Egger handed over the management of his company to Christian Stivaletti. Christian comes from Tuscany and at this point he had already spent two years at LaSelva with his qualification as a food technologist.
Karl Egger now enjoys the Tuscan way of life even more – especially with his friend, the restaurant owner Lucio Gnani. He runs the culinary gem Trattoria Aurora in Magliano – a very special place of authentic Tuscan enjoyment!
Over the decades Karl Egger`s & LaSelva`s achievements in organic farming have been honoured with many awards. The holistic, thoroughly natural and fair approach has shown that BIO can also prevail. If you always put your heart into your work and you are able to rely on your team (which you can justifiably call La Famiglia), success will come. LaSelva was and is good for the region – they have provided many jobs at the estate and a lot more in Tuscany- bravo!
As far as sustainability is concerned – LaSelva has been generating electricity with photovoltaics for a long time – are the Tuscans pioneers in this field in Italy. The fresh and process water management is also impressive – nothing is wasted here. LaSelva publishes a clear sustainability report every year – take a look for yourself.
Even if there are actually some concerns about holidays in Italy – you should remember that LaSelva is also a holiday destination – here is the contact address: info@laselva-bio.it.
I wish you a lot of fun trying out the many delicious Tuscan products from LaSelva – just get “Tuscany in your home” – you will see that organic farming makes a difference!