Food and drinks
Here it’s true: the way to the heart really is through the stomach. If nothing else, a holiday in the Black Forest is worth it simply for the food on offer. And to experience the culinary excellence of the Black Forest does not necessarily mean a trip to one of the renowned top restaurants of the region with their many crests, stars, and cooking spoons.
A quick glance on the menu of the village guest houses will often reveal a surprising selection of culinary treats. Traditional Baden or Swabian dishes such as goose liver, Gugelhupf (a type of ring cake), Venison Baden-Baden, a vanilla and poppy seed cake, or Black Forest gateau (Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte), turn a regular holiday into an epicurean delight.
Culinary Highlights in Germany's South West
Culinary pleasures are also accompanied by traditional Baden wines. Connoisseurs will appreciate the full flavour of wines like Gutedel, Müller-Thurgau, Riesling, Silvaner, Grau- and Weißburgunder, Bacchus, Chardonnay, Nobling, Muskateller, Kerner, Traminer and Blau Spätburgunder.
Black Forest ham
A genuine Black Forest ham takes time – plenty of it, at least 3 months. The longer it has been air-dried or smoked, the better its taste and flavour. Luckily, you’ll find the well-matured delicacy on restaurant menus throughout the Black Forest – without having to wait this long.
The Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte – the Black Forest gateau
Naturally, it tastes best in the Black Forest, where you’ll find it in virtually every café and restaurant. One of the essential ingredients is Kirsch, or cherry schnapps, made from locally picked fruit as the Black Forest is the only place where the right kind of cherries thrive to make this spirit.
Rustic schnapps and refined brandies
What is the most important thing about a Black Forest gateau? The chocolate? The little swirls of cream? No, it’s the Kirsch, with that clearly discernible alcoholic taste which makes the gateau genuine, which delights elderly ladies and scares off children.
The Black Forest for wine enthusiasts
Anyone who hears the word Black Forest thinks firstly of mountains and forests. But the low mountain range only forms about two thirds of the holiday region, to which it gives its name. Above all, the wine area of Baden at its western edge belongs to the Black Forest. More than 12,500 hectares of the approximately 15,400 hectares of Baden’s wine-growing area, the third biggest in Germany, form a “Wine Black Forest” at the base of the low mountain range.