What to Eat and Drink on your Black Forest Holiday

Good Food is High Priority in the Black Forest:

Black Forest Ham Vesper © Christoph Eberle/STG..

The Black Forest region is famous for its cuisine and you don’t have to dine at the many Michelin-rated restaurants to enjoy good food. Check out the menus at village guest houses and you will be surprised at the selection of culinary treats on offer.

Black Forest ham is a specialty in this area and you’ll see this served at breakfast as well as for light snacks. Ham is also used in many of the asparagus dishes of the region.

Traditional Baden or Swabian dishes such as goose liver, Venison Baden-Baden, Maultaschen (similar to ravioli), Gugelhupf (a type of ring cake), a vanilla and poppy seed cake or Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte (Black Forest cake) are some of the regional specialties that will add to your holiday dining experience.

In the Black Forest region, a Vesper is typical fare that is enjoyed between meals. It comprises hearty homemade sausages, smoked trout and Black Forest ham served with crusty farmer’s bread.  But today, it is not uncommon for Black Forest locals eat a Vesper in place of their evening meal.

Traditional Baden wines include the full flavour of wines like Gutedel, Müller-Thurgau, Riesling, Silvaner, Grau-und Weißburgunder, Bacchus, Chardonnay, Nobling, Muskateller, Kerner, Traminer and Blau Spätburgunder. Europe’s most significant wine cellar can be found in Breisach, in the south of the Kaiserstuhl Mountain.  If you enjoy wine-tasting, wine cellars here invite guests to taste both their best vintages and new specialty wines.

To round off the evening meal or after the Vesper, a “Wässerli” is traditional. A high alcohol-content fruit schnapps made from cherries, plums, pears or greengages, it has been made in this region for generations.

With over 14,000 distilleries, the Black Forest has the highest density of distilleries in the world and some of the more extravagant schnapps, such as “Zibärtle”, made from sloe plums, are produced here.  Black Forest schnapps make up the exquisite fruit liquors for which Baden-Württemberg is famous. Rothaus, Baden-Württemberg’s state owned brewery, is located in the middle of the Black Forest.

Good food is a high priority in the Black Forest and from the number of highly rated guest houses, restaurants and hotels, it seems that good food is never far away.

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