Friðheimar

Eating in the greenhouse in Reykholt

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A visit to the Friðheimar greenhouse and restaurant is a very special experience in Iceland:

Here, right on the Golden Circle, you can enjoy delicious, freshly harvested tomato dishes in the middle of the greenhouse. The menu is clear but tasty - and everything is made with their own tomatoes, from the homemade tomato soup to other main courses to dessert and drinks. Would you like a tomato beer? You can get it here! You can also learn everything about growing tomatoes using geothermal energy and stock up on delicious specialties for your onward journey.

We had already eaten here once in autumn 2016 - and were very happy to be invited to visit the greenhouse.

The story of Friðheimar

The owners of Friðheimar are the married couple Knútur Rafn Ármann and Helena Hermundardóttir. He is an agronomist, she studied horticulture. They bought the Friðheimar farm in Reykholt back in 1995. There has been a horticultural business here for around 50 years. The then empty farm offered Knútur and Helena the perfect conditions to start their own business and combine their passion for horticulture and his passion for horse breeding.

The two have five children, all of whom work in agriculture. Her eldest daughter Dóróthea invited us to Friðheimar.

Right on the Golden Circle

Friðheimar farm is located in Reykholt , on road 35 from Selfoss to Geysir and Gullfoss, about 20 km before the geyser.

There is a geothermal area here and lots of fruit, vegetables and flowers are grown in the numerous greenhouses in the area. The town has a "steam geyser" ( gufugoshver ), which the town's residents also use as a communal oven. Around 300 residents now live in Reykholt.

View over Reykholt

The entrance to Friðheimar branches off directly from road 35. From the large parking lot at the front of the street you walk a few steps to the greenhouse, past the riding arena and the horse stable.

Horse breeding in Friðheimar

The horse center here has been around for a good 15 years. The stable offers space for 20 horses.

A private horse show for groups is offered at the riding arena in summer (advance booking required). There is space for up to 120 spectators in the stands.

In Friðheimar, 20,000 tomato plants grow on an area of ​​around 10,000 m²

When Knútur and Helena bought Friðheimar in 1995, there were two old greenhouses and a large, empty house. At first they grew tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers here, but in 2002 they specialized in tomato cultivation.

They renovated and modernized the old greenhouses and over time more and more modern greenhouses were added.

The tomatoes are produced for the Icelandic market and are sold both to restaurants and in supermarkets.

Four different types of tomatoes are grown in Friðheimar:

Heirloom tomatoes, plum tomatoes (also known as egg or Roma tomatoes), heirloom tomatoes (sweet beefsteak tomatoes, a heritage variety) and piccolo tomatoes. By the way, Friðheimar is the only horticultural company in Iceland that grows piccolo tomatoes.

Growing tomatoes all year round

We received a short, informative lecture from one of the employees about the processes of growing tomatoes in Friðheimar.

The tomato seeds are planted here in the nursery and raised there for the first six weeks. When they bloom for the first time, the plants are allowed to move into the greenhouses. After about eight weeks, the first tomatoes on the young plants turn red.

In Friðheimar's greenhouses, the young plants are placed between the old plants, so both grow next to each other and when the last tomatoes on the old plants are ripe, you can harvest the first tomatoes on the young plants. This means tomatoes can be harvested here all year round.

In Friðheimar, animal workers are responsible for pollinating the tomato plants, namely bumblebees from Holland.

Around 600 bumblebees are in the greenhouses here every day. Bumblebees are particularly efficient pollinators. With their flapping wings, they cause the pollen containers in the flowers to vibrate, so that the pollen is "shaked out" and settles like small clouds on the bumblebees' hairy bodies. This means the animals can spread the pollen particularly efficiently.

Did you know that the bumblebees actually leave small "footprints" when pollinating plants, so that the experienced employees can recognize which plants have already been pollinated and which have not? When the footprints decrease, you can see that it is time to order the next generation of bumblebees.

Animal employees are also responsible for pest control : The approximately 3 mm small, bright green predatory bug "Macrolophus Pygmaeus" from the soft bug family sucks out the eggs of flies, spiders, aphids or moths and thus very effectively prevents pests

About 2 tons of tomatoes every day

In Friðheimar, around 2 tons of ripe tomatoes are harvested every day, which is around 740 tons of tomatoes per year.

Just to introduce you:

A piccolo tomato from Friðheimar weighs on average around 15 g (at least that's what my kitchen scale says). If only Piccolo tomatoes were harvested in Friðheimar, that would be around 135,000 every day. Around 390,000 people live in Iceland - so mathematically every resident could eat a Piccolo tomato from Friðheimar every third day.

The greenhouses are technically state-of-the-art, Helena and Knútur can query all the data online and, if necessary, adjust it using their cell phones.

The restaurant in the greenhouse

In Friðheimar, everything revolves around tomatoes in the greenhouses - including the food, of course.

Here you sit comfortably in the greenhouse at large, bright tables with a view of the long rows of tomatoes that are grown and irrigated here.

By the way, on all the tables there are small pots of fresh basil, which is also grown here in the greenhouse. There are small scissors attached to each pot, which you can use to cut off your herbs while eating and add them to your food. It really couldn't be fresher - and it looks pretty too!

The house specialty is the homemade tomato soup from the buffet, served with various freshly baked breads, plus butter, sour cream and cucumber salsa.

The tomato soup with bread, butter and salsa currently costs 2,960 ISK, the equivalent of just under 20 euros. However, you can get a second helping of the soup and bread.

You can also order skewers with the soup - a cheese skewer with different cheeses and tomatoes like the one I had here currently costs 790 ISK (a good 5 euros). For the money you can also get a vegetable skewer or (for just under 8 euros) a skewer with chicken or seafood.

The kitchen has more to offer than the delicious tomato soup, as a look at the menu shows.

My husband chose heirloom tomatoes with burrata - a dish with the renowned heirloom tomatoes from the greenhouse here and handmade Icelandic burrata cheese, served with basil olive oil and coarse sea salt (currently costs 3,080 ISK, a good 20 euros) . Burrata is a special form of mozzarella, but is much creamier in the middle. The tomatoes were wonderfully spicy and with the soft cheese, oil, fresh basil and coarse sea salt we really enjoyed it.

We definitely enjoyed our meal!

For drinks , in addition to the fresh water from the carafe, we had a Bloody Mary with homemade tomato juice with a little vodka and a few drops of Tabasco (for a good 14 euros, alcohol is expensive in Iceland!), served with salt, pepper and Tabasco for seasoning, and a Healthy Mary with homemade green tomato juice, lime, honey and ginger (for the equivalent of just under 9 euros). Definitely an interesting experience!

For dessert we had a portion of Ostakaka (cheesecake) with a very tasty topping of tomato jam (with green tomatoes, cinnamon and lime), served stylishly in a small flower pot, for 1,780 ISK (just under 12 euros) each.

... and a plate with 3 scoops of Friðheimar sorbet , in different varieties: one cucumber, mint and lime , one red tomato and basil and one green tomato with rosemary . The ice cream was created in collaboration with the ice cream specialists from the Icelandic organic ice cream manufacturer Skúbb . By the way, my personal favorite was the rosemary tomato ice cream!

[Translated from here.]