Explore Switzerland: An ode to the culinary heritage of the Alpine region

Until 2004, the place was a practising monastery and once the monks left, it was converted to the place it is today. It was in 2015 that this space, the Culinarium Alpinum, was started and opened five years later. It has 14 hostel rooms, a restaurant, garden, meeting spaces and a kitchen where courses are taught.

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Green fingers

The garden is called an edible landscape as whatever grows here can be eaten. The idea is for people to come together and talk about these plants and how to use them. The aspect of permaculture governs the garden that is all about promoting diversity of plants and serves as a heritage space for the future. As all the monasteries open to a garden, there is an internal courtyard as well as large open spaces. Florina Bretscher, who works at the Culinarium Alpinum, took me to the gardens where she explained about the different plants being grown here. 

“The monks planted several kinds of species in these gardens, many of which were seedlings picked from their travels. They experimented and this is how many of the produce came to Europe. They also had a little livestock and they were allowed to eat snails so there was a snail garden. The typical garden of the monks serves these purposes: meditation, prayer, recreation, physical work and decoration,” explains Bretscher.

Preserving tradition

Among the species that you will see here are the medlar—a shrub from the rose family that grows a fruit that tastes like an apple and becomes edible once it starts decaying! It works well in jams and can be harvested post the first frost on it. Walk around the garden and you will notice that all the shrubs have name tags. You can pop a berry as well—just make sure you check with the team and eat. The focus on berries here is important as they have been an ideal source of nutrition since prehistoric times. Except for Antarctica, they can be found on all continents. “Berries, and fruits and nuts, can (once again) come to in the future. If we succeed in planting as much fallow land as possible with fruit and berries, we will increase our self-sufficiency, contribute to the survival of humanity, and help to increase self-sufficiency in obtaining food supplies,” adds Bretscher. The idea is that they want this landscape to grow beyond the monastery and have partnered with the local villages to plant something edible, which will also be appreciated by the children.

Cheese story

When here, a visit to the fascinating cheese cellar is a must. Be prepared to be surrounded by circular blocks of cheese, each of which weighs a whopping 45 kilograms and needs 500 litres of raw and unpasteurised milk to be made. These are matured in the monastery cellar where the temperature is regulated at 12 degrees Celsius using a dry-maturation process that helps it to lose moisture and develop a concentrated flavour and aroma. “Alpsbrinz is a protected brand that is only produced in eight different Alps in the area and has clear regulations that the cows must be from the specific region in the Alps and must only eat what is available in the region and cannot be fed anything else. Likewise, the milk comes from the region within a 30-kilometre radius and is only made up in the Alps and cannot be brought down,” explains Bretscher. The cheese is in different colours as well and some of the oldest ones are about 30 years old. The best cheese, however, is one that is aged between three and five years, according to the team here as it doesn’t get better after that. The taste of the cheese depends on the place it is made and the person who makes it.

Food files

A meal at the restaurant here is all things local, fresh, organic, and seasonal—exactly what makes for a bespoke Swiss experience. Almost 90 per cent of the food items and beverages are directly purchased from the farmers. “We work with local juices—apple, pear, cherry and quince—and want to showcase the richness of the food of Switzerland to guests. They also use only one salt that is a Swiss product,” says Peter Durrer who looks after the gastronomy and accommodation here. 

The salt flower crystals released from the rock by the water from the Anzeindaz and Diablerets glaciers are also seen in the restaurant. Called the Salz Flower of the Alps, the brine Igesalzenes Wasserl is carefully dried on larch wood and after evaporation, only the finest crystal flowers from the top layer are extracted for the natural Alpine salt. The food here is also an ode to Central Switzerland and offers an array of dishes for all—vegetarians and vegans included. Sample dishes like breaded eggplant schnitzel with tomato sauce, mountain cheese and vegetables; minced pike patties from fish in Lake Lucerne with horseradish mayonnaise and cucumber salad with tarragon; poached organic egg with potatoes, beans, red onions and tomatoes; or duo from Lucerne organic sheepmeat. 

A regional breakfast buffet and selection of drinks is offered in the mornings where you can try the plated bread with milk caramel homemade organic butter plait and wash it down with organic and fairtrade certified coffees. If you are looking for a delicious food sojourn into the heart of Switzerland, this is an all immersive experience that will leave you asking for more. Don’t forget to bookmark the Culinarium Alpinum in Stans for your next trip to Switzerland. 

wknd@khaleejtimes.com