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You are here: Home / In my pantry / Munich foodie souvenirs

Munich foodie souvenirs

by Jeanne Horak on December 8, 2004 7 Comments in In my pantry

As I have mentioned before, Nick and I have got into the habit of bringing back some goodies when we travel.  Not commemorative mugs, not T-shirts, not local crafts – no, something far more important than that.  Food. And of course, drink!  So naturally, when we went to Munich, you would expect us to come back with our usual little picnic hamper of treats – and you would not be disappointed.  In fact, when we were in Paris in August, Nick bought himself a new bag especially for this purpose – that’s how serious we are about it!  Somehow the things we like best just aren’t as plentiful on supermarket shelves here (or as affordable!) as they are in Europe, so we simply stock up whenever we have the chance.

Munich, of course, was no exception.  As I mentioned in a previous post, we discovered a fabulous department store in Munich called Galleria Kaufhof which has one of the more impressive food halls that I have seen outside of, say, Harrods.  So on our last day we did a swoop through there and bought most of the stuff in the picture above.  So let’s see… from bottom centre, moving clockwise we have:

  • A box of Mozartkugel chocolates – these are little balls of pistachio marzipan, surrounded by a layer of hazelnut nougat and covered in bitter chocolate, each individually wrapped and emblazoned with Wolfgang’s head.  I remember my parents buying them when I was very young and savouring every mouthful.  I was mystified as they were the only chocolates I wouldn’t eat.  Marzipan?  Yuck! I also remember being utterly amazed when I went to Vienna with my mom and found these chocolates EVERYWHERE, usually right by a life-sized cardboard cut-out of Mozart himself, directing you to the boxes of kugels.  My mom took back LOADS for my dad – they were the only gift he requested, apart from a sachertorte (not shy, my dad!). I’m still not much of a marzipan fan, but I’m sure I can find somebody for whom these will  be a lovely Christmas treat… 😉
  • Moving clockwise we have a packet of mini Südtiroler Gipfelstürmer sausages.  These are the German equivalent of Italian salami or French saucisson sec.  Nick loves them as he can nibble on them when he wants a snack and they remind him of droëwors from back home…
  • From there we move on to my favourite – a big chunk of Tirolerspeck.  Like the Mozartkugeln, this is Austrian rather than German, but given the proximity of Bavaria to Austria, I guess nobody’s going to mind!  Tirolerspeck is basically a big chunk of smoky bacon with a good layer of fat and comes from the Tirol region of Austria.  It bears absolutely no resemblance to what passes for bacon in British supermarkets – its colour is aubergine rather than pale pink, its texture is that of proper meat and it is cured, so you can slice and eat – no cooking required.  In other words, abandon all your preconceived ideas of bacon!  It is truly one of the finest things a pig can become.
  • A bottle of Dr Fischer Ockfener Bockstein Riesling Spätlese (a late harvest) from the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer region of Germany.  We fell in love with German wines when we visited this area over Christmas 2000 and I believe the Rieslings from here to be among the most underrated wines in the world.  The vineyards cling to the most unlikely steep slopes which makes mechanical harvesting close to impossible and makes these wines rather pricey.  But I think they are worth the money, and I’m sure this one won’t disappoint!
  • Next up is the rather beautiful bottle of blood orange liqueur (Blutorangen liqueur).  I wanted to bring back a bottle of something that, unlike wine, would last a little longer than just one dinner party and this seemed like a good bet as you seldom see the fresh fruits around here, much less encounter them in liqueur form.  And besides, how can you resist buying something that colour??

 

 

  • To the right again, we have a bottle of 2003 Ruppertsberger Nussbein Gewürztraminer Spätlese from the Pfalz region of Germany.  I like Gewürztraminer – it is made from the beautiful pink-skinned gewürztraminer grape, whose name literally means “spicy Traminer” (Traminer is another grape variety).  It smells characteristically of rose petals and can make spectacular late harvest wines with great spicy complexity – fabulous with curry!  So I am hoping this one will live up to these high expectations!
  • Moving to the right and slightly downwards, we have a little bottle of Aceto Balsamico just because it looked like good stuff and the price was right!
  • And last but not least we have my favourites – two little bottles of La Collina sunflower oil – one infused with garlic and the other infused with truffles.  But what I really love about them is the way they fit together just so – a little glass couple, dancing with each other on my kitchen shelf.

 

 

And sadly, that’s the end of our little shopping spree.  I certainly hope you enjoyed checking out the contents of our basket as much as we enjoyed filling it!  I will have to report back to you on how everything tastes, as and when we sample them.  Until then, guten appetit to you all!

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  1. Estelle says

    December 8, 2004 at 6:17 pm

    Hi! Galleria Kaufhof is indeed a very nice department store, I have been to the one in Frankfurt and really liked it. Their kitchen department is really nice, I could spend hours there… Munich is a very pretty city, I hope you had some good bretzels there!

    Reply
  2. Joolez says

    December 13, 2004 at 2:24 pm

    I don’t like Mozartkugeln either. You probably have to be asutrian to like them. 🙂 Although I do like Marzipan a lot. The Südtiroler sausages are not german, Südtirol is Austria (again), but Austria is close, so what the heck! Kaufhof Galleria is very expensive, but I love to walk there 🙂
    Now mail me your address and as soon as I am coming out of my “too much work, too little time” prison, I am going to sample a few german, maybe even bavarian things for you and mail them. Did I give you my gmail address?
    I am sorry, I haven’t been here lately. I have so much catching up to do! I hope things will cool down a bit in January.

    Reply
  3. redsaid says

    December 25, 2004 at 7:38 am

    I swear, your food descriptions are some of the best and most mouth-watering on the web!

    Reply
  4. Jeanne says

    December 29, 2004 at 12:41 pm

    Estelle,
    If I could bring one German store over to London it would be Galleria Kaufhof! Apart from their fantastic kitchen and food sections we also got some great shoes there – and they were even on sale! – plus Nick bought the best-fitting pair of trousers that he owns. We did have some of the giant fresh pretzels that they serve with beer in Munich – they are sooooo different to the dried-up little things that are sold as pretzels over here!
    Joolez,
    Glad to hear you are back in circulation! The Mozartkugeln found a good home in the end (clearly not in my pantry though!). I’ll chat to you later on e-mail about food parcels across the channel – let’s do a swap! 😉
    Red,
    Aaaaah, you say the nicest things! Think of my blog as a no-guilt way to enjoy lovely food – zero calories, but you get all the tastes & smells! 😉

    Reply
  5. Yorkshiresoul says

    December 31, 2004 at 8:41 am

    I was in the Mosel at harvest time this year, drank too much fress pressed grape juice and brought back some lovely vintage Spatlese and Auslese.
    It is a wonderfully beautiful area to visit.

    Reply
  6. Jeanne says

    December 31, 2004 at 3:53 pm

    YS,
    Sounds bloody marvelous. I visited the Mosel over Christmas 2000 and absolutely loved it. The vineyards defy belief with the angle at which they cling to the slopes! We also came away with some lovely wines, including a couple of bottles of Eiswein. Prosit!

    Reply
  7. n.c. says

    February 28, 2007 at 4:49 pm

    I love blood orange liqueur too and recently made some with grappa, blood oranges and sugar. It’s been stewing for a month now and I’m going to unearth it soon and bottle it (see pics on my blog http://novaclutch.typepad.com/novaclutch/). If you’re interested I can post the recipe.

    Reply
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Jeanne Horak is a freelance food and travel writer; recipe developer and photographer. South African by birth and Londoner by choice, Jeanne has been writing about food and travel on Cooksister since 2004. She is a popular speaker on food photography and writing has also contributed articles, recipes and photos to a number of online and print publications. Jeanne has also worked with a number of destination marketers to promote their city or region. Please get in touch to work with her Read More…

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