Salzburg served in four tasty bites: This is the last blog post in a series of yummy “Salzburg Gourmet Trip” tips, ending with dessert. Here, I will serve you all the final stories, topped with cream-like gourmet moments, plus many more sweet and clever people we met along the way. Those of you who are really hungry (for adventure, witty travel tales & and of course great food!), should check out all my “blog courses” before their next trip to Salzburg: Amuse Gueule, Entrée as well as the main course account here.
As for this “travel dessert”, I will lead you astray to the smell of excellent coffee as well as the warm rays of sunshine caressing the walls of an ancient mill, many centuries old. And the warmth in the eyes of those who still operate it with great care today:
Manfred Luginger & the “Fuchsmühle” mill in Anthering.
Just a stone’s throw away from the city of Salzburg, my friends Monika, Petar, Gudrun and I are met with the charm of Manfred’s wife Katharina, whose hand-painted signs and bread-baking workshops are a sign of the family’s creative spirit. This unique mill, Manfred tells us, is among the oldest of its kind in Europe! Soon, we are mesmerized by what else is there, just so close to the world-famous city of Salzburg, that we have come to discover on this day.
Welcome to Anthering: Only across the hill from Salzburg and right next to the border between Austria and Bavaria, we are met with the charm of this unique and pretty landscape.
Besides the mill itself, what immediately draws my attention are the sweet little details we find all over the place: “Rost a bissl – Relax a little”, is written on this home-made bench here.
Sounds good: “I am here for you Mondays to Fridays, and each Tuesday there is freshly baked bread for you”. Who wouldn’t want to come?
Looking around the small shop, we find lots of different products related to baking and enjoying the good life. Once again, the motto of our “eat & meet” festival here in Salzburg continues with the visit of this mill!
Off we go visiting a mill that is many centuries old. Amazing how neatly organised and well-arranged everything is around here! You cannot help but notice the great care the owners show in tending to the mill.
Manfred Luginger is a calm man driven by great attention to detail. While he talks to us about the history and working of the Fuchsmühle mill in Anthering, I get the feeling that he himself is connected to every nook and cranny of his mill. That he listens to and feels every breath & shakes of the machines in here, still able to pick the “sound” of fine flour from falling through the countless sieves. Talking about the various types of flour, his hand disappears in a large bag only to come back out with the finest white flour running through his fingers – a beautiful sensation we are invited to try for ourselves.
For many centuries already, the mill is being handed down from father to son (” … yes, it has always been this way …”); following its renovation back in 1948, it even used to be one of the modernest mills in the whole Salzburg province. Interestingly enough, a lot of grains from my own neck of the woods, Lower Austria, are being processed here. I am impressed with the complex grinding process, the separation of flour, semolina and bran, the countless sieves in use that make the final product soft as velvet. The mill moreover is built in a way for us to walk from bottom to top and explore all the different stages of the milling process in an easy way.
Leading the way: Manfred Luginger talks to Gudrun Krinzinger about the workings of his mill, having reached the top floor, or attic, of the building where the entire process starts.
Machines and constructions such as this catch my eye, last but not least because of their visual aesthetics and dynamism …
… finally, it is our turn to familiarize ourselves with the fine flour here …
… before we leave again with these cute little gifts for the journey home: A small sack of flour with a coloured egg, a sure sign of the approaching spring and Easter celebration.
Thank you so much for the warm hospitality here at the Fuchsmühle mill Anthering! Every Tuesday, too, you can buy fresh bread and the small shop is open everyday Monday to Friday from 09.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. A good idea for your next visit!
At 220 Grad Roaster & Café in the old town of Salzburg, a sign marks the beginning of our “journey to the heart of coffee”.
Now comes the aromatic part of our culinary adventure trip in & around Salzburg: We dive right into the world of coffee! 220 Grad Roaster & Café is the creative brainchild of Alois and Margret Macheiner. It is their passion that fuels the sweet scent of 220 Grad Café in the old town of Salzburg and allows its guests to “journey to the heart of coffee”. And this is exactly where we will be going right now, dear readers! I hope the visual stimulus of the following photos is enough to trigger your taste buds right there. 😉
Close to the Salzburg Cathedral Square, right in the old town of the city, a “journey to the heart of coffee” awaits us at 220 Grad Café.
Our journey starts right then & there with these yummy sweet & spicy appetisers served with delightful espresso …
… only to land right inside the roaster of the coffeeshop company, where we are taught the basics of coffee tasting and roasting. It starts with this “coffee aroma wheel” – and did you know that exotic scents such as cat piss are part of it?!
We rather stay focused on the task at hand, learning how to taste coffee expertly with our group of coffee travellers!
What I really like about Margret & Alois Macheiner’s presentation is the passion they show in talking to us about their countless coffee journeys around the globe, sourcing only the best ingredients for their products at 220 Grad Roaster. I realise that the two of them “have arrived”: Opening a kind of seminar & competence centre focused on coffee with the single purpose of propagating and sharing their passion with interested visitors. Lucky us, since that day it is our turn to learn about the miracle of turning plain green beans into aromatic, world-class coffee beans!
Alois and Margret start splitting us up into single task forces: Turn on the roasting machine and off again. Watch the temperature, always. Take notes of every little change. Document everything. Check the quality. Take periodic samples. And finally … Fill your own coffee beans into a small bag as a souvenir for take away!
(My family continues to sniff at the small gift bag from Salzburg dash Nicaragua. It has such a beautiful aroma! I treat the precious beans with utmost care, whose roasting was in our very hands.). What an experience!
Off we go: Roasting coffee means marvelling at the incredible power of the roaster itself, a miracle of a machine.
We watch the birth of fully roasted coffee beans, taking periodic samples during the roasting process. Watch as the beans change colour from green to dark brown!
Margret is happy to answer our very question concerning the right tasting of coffee during our workshop. If you really want to find out about what makes good (or bad!) coffee, then you should pay her a visit and embark on the “journey to the heart of coffee” here!
And this is the result of our creative roasting process, grinding the beans for taking them home with us. What a delight! I really like what we have learned here.
Check out the full picture series of our trip here: I hope you enjoy the “coffee journey” as well as the yummy food tips for your next trip to Salzburg!
Disclaimer: We have been invited by Tourismus Salzburg in order to experience the city’s culinary highlights as part of the “eat & meet” festival. All opinions are my own.