DasPure

by Ruhe

Producers Who Are Good for the Soil

Location

It smells intensely spicy. “What you’re very likely smelling right now is a mix of kimchi and smoke,” Patrick greets us and points to the smoker behind him. In the past, Patrick used to do wild smoking in a forest in the Zürcher Oberland. Today, it all happens in his self-built smoker. Anyone who enters dasPure finds themselves right in the middle of the process. The space is an atelier, workshop, lab, production and retail space all at once.

Product

Patrick lifts the white cloth that lies over the wooden barrel. A dark, almost oily liquid shimmers in the half-light. Tiny CO₂ bubbles rise as Patrick stirs the shoyu. “What you see here is called lactofermentation,” he says. “Ferment comes from the Latin fervere’ and means to boil. The Romans thought that when something bubbles, it’s boiling.” with laughs.

The recipe is simple: roasted wheat, peas, water, salt, the magical noble mold Aspergillus oryzae, and 17 months of resting time in old wooden barrels. Nothing more is needed. The ingredients used at dasPure come from Swiss organic farms. There are no fixed producers. They buy wherever organic ingredients are available.

“We use ingredients that would be considered ‘not up to standard’ for conventional sales,” Patrick explains. Ennoble them is a statement against waste and a sign of a more mindful approach to our raw resources. It’s not the appearance that counts, but what can be made from it. “Especially high-quality organic ingredients, like those from Demeter cultivation, are actually harder to ferment. They’re too resistant to fungi, and the mold doesn’t grow well.” In other words: the healthier and more natural the soil, the more robust the plant, but the slower the fermentation.

People

It all started with salmon, ham, sausages, and lots of smoke. The question of using resources more sustainably arose with the birth of his grandchildren: “That was the moment when I seriously started thinking about our resources in the future. We really have to consider how we’re going to get our protein going forward. Meat is not the answer. There has to be another way.”

Today, the focus is on plant-based protein. The goal is to create accessible forms of protein from local ingredients that aren’t highly processed meat alternatives. The inspiration for new products comes from the team. All employees contribute to the process, and many ideas are born from experimenting together, but always with knowledge and skilled craftsmanship.

This post is part of our collaboration with Ruhe Visits. We visit selected restaurants and producers who stand out for their particularly soil-conscious work and share their stories.

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