A Belgian man who discovered jars of vegetables that had been stored in his grandmother’s attic for 80 years, has teamed up with a star chef to make a meal from the ancient ingredients as part of an experiment instigated by a Flemish newspaper.
After posting on social media about the discover he had made, Sven Van Vlierberghe was contacted by a journalist from Het Nieuwsblad. After the newspaper put a call out for master chefs to get in touch to take part in the experiment, Michiel De Bruyn from the Sense restaurant in Waasmunster responded and, together with Sven, a meal was planned.
"It seemed like a fun challenge,” the star chef to VRT News. “Tasting something so special, which has been in the attic for so long and has been perfectly preserved, I just thought it would be fun to do."
The vegetables turned out to have been perfectly preserved in the attic of Sven's grandmother, which had been uncovered along with a lot of items from World War I - including an anti-aircraft shell, which had to be collected by the bomb disposal squad of the Belgian Army!
"The vegetables were pickled," said De Bruyn. "That used to be a habit: seasonal vegetables were picked and pickled in sterilised jars. This is a technique that kills all micro-organisms and therefore allows you to store products longer."
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After carefully prying the jars open, Sven and Michiel De Bruyn found that the contents were mostly tomatoes and rhubarb, which were in fine condition. "The rhubarb was still super nice in structure and the tomato was slightly darker than usual, but actually looked beautiful and still tasted perfect," said the chef. "Where else can you find vegetables that are 80 years old? The grandmother knew what she was doing."
Sven also found it "incomprehensible" that the smell and the taste were still so good. "That's hard to understand,” he told VRT. “We made a salad from the tomatoes in the end.”
Before going ahead with the experiment, am expert was consulted on whether the vegetable would be safe to eat, which they were.
“I have been going to the toilet a little more often since eating them,” joked Sven.
