New tourism concept:
How to experience a Black Forest community with all your senses

Baiersbronn, July 2014 │ Baiersbronn in the Black Forest is a popular holiday destination, best known for three of Germany's top restaurants carrying eight Michelin stars altogether and the outstanding hiking infrastructure to be found here. The “Baiersbronn Hiking Heaven“ features a varied network of trails, comprehensive maps and information material, serviced hiking huts and outstanding hosts providing food and drink on the way. The new “Culinary Hiking Heaven“ programme, supported by the nature park “Schwarzwald Mitte/Nord“ situated in the northern and central Black Forest, combines the two key aspects of hiking and culinary highlights. The initiative centres around six main offers for visitors and will be launched in late summer 2014, providing tourists with a toolkit to explore Baiersbronn's unspoilt nature with all their senses.

“We want to provide our guests with a special holiday experience that is closely related to us and our community. In order to create such an authentic experience for visitors, we had to start by asking ourselves what would actually be the best fit for us,“ explains Tourism Director Patrick Scheib the process of coming up with the new programme. The result of looking closely at what makes the community of Baiersbronn tick is that the people living here are very attached to their region and deeply rooted in their local culture. They love the forest and spend a lot of time there, be it for work or recreational purposes. They are down-to-earth, hands-on people and hard workers who appreciate a hearty meal as much as more sophisticated dishes. Based on this, six tourism offers have been developed:

• So-called “wild plants hosts“; restaurants and inns using natural ingredients from  the local forest to prepare their dishes

• So-called “wild plants guides“ taking visitors on hikes and introducing them to all the forest has to offer, including herbs, berries and mushrooms

• A culinary wild plants discovery trail where visitors can learn all about the treasures nature has on offer

• Picnic rucksacks provided by the “wild plants hosts“, featuring local and regional specialities plus a (German-language) brochure about wild plants helping visitors to identify plants and learn how to use them

   

• Special picnic areas featuring enchanting views and idyllic surroundings

• Special Baiersbronn culinary treasures that have been produced in Baiersbronn by locals using local produce

Geobotanist Charly Ebel as Social Media guide
All of this offers can be taken up individually as well as be combined, depending on individual preference and interest. In developing the programme Baiersbronn Tourism worked closely with Charly Ebel, a geobotanist who knows all about the distribution of plants in the northern Black Forest. He not only trained the wild plants guides but also worked on the wild plants brochure and the culinary wild plants discovery trail. The latter also comes with an app featuring short video clips (also available on YouTube) and Ebel explaining hikers the surroundings they are in and the local plants. The project was supported by his colleague Sönke Birk.

Michelin-star chef Peter Scharff creating new dishes together with local restaurateurs
Peter Scharff, Michelin-star chef and herbs experts, will train the wild plants hosts and advise them on the dishes they will offer their guests in their restaurants. Scharff explains why he returned to Baiersbronn where he trained with top chef Harald Wohlfahrt whose restaurant “Schwarzwaldstube“ has maintained three stars for more than 20 years now: “I was really intrigued by the fact that local restaurateurs wanted to cooperate in order to bring the taste of their home region on the plate. I'm delighted to be able to support this with my knowledge and am looking forward to enganging in a discussion with like minded people.“ His seminars focus on his philosphy of “Cuisina Herba Barona“ which is all about appreciating plants and seasonal cooking. He will also create special dishes together with the eight wild plants hosts in Baiersbronn based on base, heart and top notes that will selectively highlight seasonal flavours. The many ways of using individual plants – their seeds, roots, stalks, leaves, buds and flowers – promise a plethora of tastes.

Food writer Hannes Finkbeiner developing “Baiersbronn Treasures“
Baiersbronn-born food writer Hannes Finkbeiner is developing special Baiersbronn dishes based on his conversations with restaurateurs and food producers. Since May 2014, these include the Schwarzenberger Lammspezialitäten (a lamb dishes), Reichenbacher Waldhonigeis (forest honey ice-cream) and Buhlbachforelle (trout). More “treasures“ will follow and all of them will not only focus on using local produce but also a transparent production chain and the responsible handling of the original ingredients, respectively the animals involved.

Two-day package featuring hiking and culinary delights
While some of the features of Baiersbonn's “Culinary Hiking Heaven“ programme are already available such as the  “Baiersbronn Treasures“, the culinary wild plants discovery trail as well as guided tours with wild plants guides, some others are still to be launched by the end of August including a package for visitors combining the best of hiking and culinary delights:

The offer includes two overnights, one dinner at one of the participating wild plants hosts including a “Baiersbronn Treasure“ dish, one picnic rucksack and wild plants brochure for an individual hiking tour to one of the special picnic areas as well as a guided hike with a wild plants experts which, on request, can include the culinary wild plants discovery trail. A special fruits of the forest liqueur is also part of the package. Booking and price on request: Baiersbronn Tourism, phone +44 (0)7442 84 14 90 or on www.baiersbronn.de.

More on www.kulinarischer-wanderhimmel.de (site in German only)