Clearspring organic snacks are produced in Austria by Landgarten, a fully integrated company who works on a local scale promoting sustainable farming and producing healthy seed snacks.

The company
Landgarten is run by Herbert Stava and Kerstin Varga from a small farm in the village of Bruck/Leitha, on the rich soils of eastern Austria. Herbert and Kerstin grow their own organic soya beans, and have their pumpkin and sunflower seeds grown on contract by local organic farmers.

The seed varieties Landgarten grows are specially selected for their exceptional flavour, their rich nutritional properties and their suitability to the local organic growing conditions.

At their new purpose-built factory on the farm, powered by local wind turbines, Herbert and Kerstin's soya beans and seeds are salted using brine before being lightly roasted in small batches at a low temperature to draw out their flavour.

Landgarten's unique combination of organic growing skills with special roasting and packing expertise give Clearspring roasted seed snacks the freshest taste available. Maybe that's why they keep winning taste awards.

The roasting of seeds
The roasting machine at Landgarten, Clearspring's snack producer, is specially designed to optimise the health and nutritional benefits of organic seeds. It uses a hot air system to heat small batches at the lowest possible temperature and to avoid any scorching on hot metal surfaces. Uniquely, for this type of roasting, it also keeps the combustion gases completely separate from the product thereby avoiding the formation of PAHs.

PAHs - Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons - are organic compounds formed as a result of incomplete combustion of fossil fuels. Car exhausts and cigarette smoke are common sources of PAHs which are known to cause cancer. Seed roasting machines also typically will allow some combustion gases to make contact with the foods which is why Herbert at Landgarten was keen to design his own machine.

After roasting, Landgarten ensures that the fresh flavour and full nutrition of their organic seeds and soya beans are fully preserved. Together with the Austrian Research Institute Landgarten has developed special handling and packing techniques that minimise air contact with the product to ensure that Clearspring organic seed snacks remain fresh tasting right through their packaged life.

www.landgarten.at