Souvenir Hunt Winter Edition #2

At home, we rarely count a trip to the supermarket among the highlights of the day. But abroad, at least one supermarket visit is always planned in the hunt for edible souvenirs to take home. In winter, too. What should you not miss from each winter sports country? FavorFlav browses the shelves.

Today we return from Switzerland with

1. Appenzeller Biberli

We love German Lebkuchen, a kind of gingerbread sometimes covered with chocolate or icing. And we also love the sixteenth-century Appenzeller version. The largest, Biber, are made with honey. The smaller ones, Biberli, have an almond or nut filling. The embossed figures are formed in roughly the same way as our speculaas.

image: Sandstein, Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported.

2. Sbrinz AOC

There are Alpine cheeses aplenty. But Sbrinz AOC is Switzerland’s oldest hard cheese. It has been made in the cantons of Central Switzerland for around 500 years. And it is still strikingly golden yellow, spicy and crumbly. Centuries ago, it was transported over the Alpine passes to Italy, so it can withstand a bit of rough handling (read: the journey home).

3. Appenzeller Alpenbitter

This ‘dry bitter’ made with 42 medicinal local herbs—including gentian root, anise and mint—was developed in 1902 by Emiel Ebneter in his own distillery. The registered brand name ‘Appenzeller’ dates from 1907, as does the gold medal from the World’s Fair in Paris. By now, there are also chocolate sticks filled with this bitter liqueur containing 29% alcohol.