01 00 13 18
Places we pass through; beautiful but strangely empty we think…
01 00 21 13
….strange because as the soil appears rich, deserted farms and villages and un-worked land don’t make sense.
01 00 35 19
There are few places in Europe which are without the mark of humanity but more and more places which are being emptied of communities…they become places to pass through.
01 01 06 22
In this episode we go to a rolling river valley in Germany’s south central state of Bavaria, a region called Franconia between Bamburg and Coburg.
01 01 19 14
Dense forests surround the rolling farm land.
01 01 30 20
This old mill run entirely by water power…no electricity, no effluent, waste or fossil fuel emissions. Farmers and bakers bring wheat and rye here to be ground.
01 0145 02
Helmut Löhner, 68 -a miller all his life. He runs the mill on his own, rushing down to the sluice that allow the water through, climbing up to the fly-wheels which clean the grains and climbing further to empty the grains into the hoppers where they begin the passage through the mill to become fine flour.
01 02 16 21
Between his heaving, hauling, opening and testing he said: “there used to be 15 mills on this river, now there’s just me and I’ll have to close soon…. there’s an industrial mill 10 kilometres away…. they do greater volumes more cheaply”.
01 02 31 06
But local farmers and bakers must travel the round trip, Helmut will be unemployed and the industrial mill runs using fossil fuels…what is cheaper for the bakers will be more expensive for the economy as a whole and damaging to the region’s ecology.
01 02 56 14
Helmut said: “My kids don’t want our mill.” Built by his father in the early 1930’s, its end saddens him. He admitted: “The passing of this life and the profession hurts a bit.”
01 03 08 19
In the late 1930’s the Nazi government forced farmers to stop making bread, butter and cheese, demanding all raw produce be sent to the fighting forces.
01 03 26 09
As the Nazis were defeated, the advancing American army laid waste to Franconia thinking it would wind up behind the iron curtain. During the Cold War, NATO believed this plain would be quickly invaded so the German government ignored its development.
01 03 46 18
When a people looses a part of their knowledge and traditions they lose a part of their identity.
01 03 54 09
They must struggle harder to keep alive the things for their children which have always defined them: music, food, beliefs and local myths.
01 04 04 02
In the village of Groszwalburg, Elke Böß(sz)endörfer and her daughter Gunda Groszmann make 70 loaves of Landbrod..the country bread…10 times a year.
01 04 18 16
After the dough is mixed it is formed into loaves, placed in wicker baskets and left in a warm room to mature and rise for an hour.
01 04 27 10
The communal oven is fired from apple, plum cherry, and Hazelwood collected by Elke during the winter. Villagers also produce cider and an apple wine and maintain a barter system.
01 04 39 17
The woman said communal cooking and bartering goods create society.
01 04 45 21
When the oven stones have heated enough, Elke brushes aside the embers and mops up cinders and ash.
01 05 00 14
Before sliding the now risen loaves in she paints them with water to crisp the crust as it bakes.
Humbly she said “The bread is made by guess work”.
01 05 12 04
Making the dough, forming the loaves, keeping the fire going and sliding the loaves in and out of the oven is strenuous work…
01 05 21 21
…but they do it because they wish to eat bread of their own making and because they say “it’s more healthy than store bought food”.
01 05 30 11
The women rest as the hot oven bakes the bread.
01 0537 10
Another way of keeping alive regional culture is seen in this castle, now the Germanisches Museum where a group of local musicians perform traditional music.
01 06 06 01
Finally the loaves are finished, filling the room with an odour which creates immediate hunger.
01 06 11 15
They are loaded onto the cart and distributed to the villagers who participate in the barter system.
01 06 22 18
The bread along with meat pies and sausages are assembled for a farmhouse lunch. The woman said: “the heart of our food is bread, bread and butter”.
01 06 37 10
Elka’s granddaughter said: “On a free day from college I helped my grandmother bake. It’s too hard; after my mother finishes, the tradition will die”.
01 0646 07
Gunda said “the young like the romance of it; maybe it will continue for special festivals…..but still they come and eat the bread.”
01 06 54 06
For the moment their community survives.
01 07 00 14
With a refreshing glass of cider the farmer said: “My secret of health is good food and 12 hours of work a day…..the more work I do the more I can drink”.
01 07 27 08
On the hills above Bamberg, a medieval jewel of a town, is the cathedral precinct with its stately palace.
01 07 35 03
Below, the old town boarders the river and its weir.
01 07 41 14
A few streets up from the river is the Mahrs Brewery making beers according to the thousand year old Reinheitsgebot rules combined with modern organic practices.
01 07 53 03
The owner’s son, Stefan Michael, oversees each process as testing the alcoholic content of the fermenting malt at this early stage of beer making.
01 08 07 01
Although a young man he has been working in the brewery for 16 years
01 08 24 20
In the brewery’s storeroom he smells, tastes and looks at each newly arrived sack of locally grown malt…Stefan personally knows all of his suppliers.
01 09 06 03
Amongst the spotless aluminium vats where the brewing occurs, Stefan appraises the odours, clarity, smoothness, bite and complexity of the flavours which he encourages from his organic raw materials.
01 09 27 03
In the brewery’s bar the loyal patrons show their appreciation for Stefan’s skill….
01 09 34 11
...over and over.
01 09 42 15
The area is dotted with beautiful walled towns and villages rich with sculptures and decorations representing the success of these once wealthy principalities.
01 10 09 12
During a spring festival, as the Hurdy-gurdy player sets a plangent mixture of nostalgia and sweetness, Andreas Martin, a one time forester sculpts life size boar out of tree trunks.
01 10 40 17
The barrel organ player said: “I do this because I am unfit for anything else”.
01 10 51 04
Stefan’s uncle Burchart, half owner of the brewery, is a thoughtful chef who has created a restaurant and beer garden serving traditional Franconian dishes.
With his normal meat supplier, the butcher Ingo Singer, he chooses and discusses the days best meats.
01 11 14 22
Later he does the same with Herr Eichfelder, owner of a town based kitchen garden which supplies Burchard his daily fresh vegetables from his 25.000 plants under glass.
01 11 27 11
Burchard and Heinz Katzenberger, his fellow chef, produce a stream of hearty dishes including a Bamberger Bierhaxe -a baked ham hock based on Burchard’s extensive library and memories of his grandmother’s cooking at the brewery.
01 11 41 14
Although he once ran a highly regarded nouvelle cuisine restaurant, he wanted a place where average families could afford to eat and feel comfortable. He has 80% returning guests…a success which shows how culture and food share a place at the dining table.
01 11 59 22
And in this region pork and beer share a place in the same dish.
01 12 06 19
Franconian specialties are pork, roast beef, Savoy cabbage, potato dumplings, ham, bread, duck pate, and white asparagus “but” he said “the old food was heavy. Some traditional food isn’t eaten anymore…things like tripe, calves breast, goat and poussin.
01 12 36 10
He lightens his sauces, serves more vegetables and adds a touch of spice -a response to healthy eating as well as to the influence of Turkish, Chinese and Italian restaurants which have changed people’s thinking about food.
01 13 02 24
Burchard is a thoughtful man who cares as much about his food as the identity of his region.
01 13 09 22
Stone walls and hedgerows are gone with the birds and insects who lived in them. This landscape result of German land redistribution and European Union pressure to create larger farming units to increase productivity.
01 13 29 04
The open fields are not suitable to graze herds which are now kept permanently in barns.
01 13 35 21
Helene Angemuller, her husband and son have 150 dairy cows whose diets and health are carefully overseen on their family farm at Grossheirath near Coburg.
01 13 50 21
Helene’s husband and son milk at least 70 cows twice every day. It takes up to 8 hours.
01 14 14 04
The udders are washed and the pumps attached over and over.
01 14 37 04
On these automated farms there is still a lot of manual labour. The milk is fed through an automatic pipe line to a cooler and then collected by the local co op.
01 14 54 11
These men have little rest and virtually no holidays as they struggle in a market which continually reduces the price of the only commodity they produce.
01 15 06 03
Early morning: Helene makes quark by warming the skimmed milk for a day and then separating the curds from the liquid or whey.
01 15 22 04
Chives are finely chopped and added to the cheese when it is served.
01 15 30 15
The fatty part of the milk is beaten and stirred into butter and the remaining liquid is drunk as a buttermilk..
01 15 40 08
Helene’s family have been in the area since 1700. She said ‘When I was a girl there were fifteen farms; now there are two… there are new buildings and industry…people don’t work on farms…there’s good and bad with this. People are selfish…they don’t take part in village life….they work away and return at night. They won’t do anything for nothing…not a lot of giving although happy to take our cakes and breads. It’s difficult to keep our community.’
01 16 06 03
For her the best part of her life is her freedom.
01 16 10 04
This butter is a delicate mousse, so light it is like a tease of a feather on the cheek.
01 16 31 03
A celebration of the much loved sweet water Carp at the Windfelder am See restaurant.
01 16 42 07
Herr Windfelder wades into one of his ponds to investigate the state of his carp.
01 16 48 05
He transfers them to his holding bins when they are 3 years old- big enough for a meal.
He said: ‘the most difficult thing is to always have the same quality…I feed the Carp a mixture of rye and wheat.’
Most of his recipes are traditional, but he’s created new ones…in this way traditions are modernized.
01 17 07 03
He saves their prized liver for cooking.
01 17 16 20
He said: ‘I had 16 people at a table; because I cook everything fresh, of course the dishes came staggered and they complained…I told them to go to McDonalds.’
01 17 33 05
For his Gebackener Karpfen, he bastes the fillets in flour while he begins to cook a Fillet of Carp in a Frankischer wine sauce..
01 18 05 07
He joins eggs and cream for the sauce and then returning to the fried carp he bathes the fillets in a mixture of beer and water and coats them in bread crumbs.
01 18 29 13
Then they are fried until the outside is browned and crispy and the insides moist and melting.
01 18 39 10
He removes the sautéed fillets from the wine and finishes the sauce with cream, wine and the much loved chives.
01 19 15 00
His wife and partner shows how to appreciate the fried fish.
01 19 31 11
Above Coburg is an austere castle with its triple defensive rings built in 1200.
01 19 45 10
But below in the town, decorated facades and the busy life filled market square reveal how European unity rather than war has created abundance and pleasure.
01 20 05 22
On every day of the year the odour of pinecones fills the square as local sausages are cooked over them by Rosel Gäth.
01 20 16 04
Noting else will do but to collect the pine cones every autumn for the years supply because only they offer the right smoke to help flavour the local much appreciated sausages.
01 20 30 08
There’s hardly a place to look where someone is not eating a sausage in the square.
01 20 35 17
As in Chef Michaels bier haxa and the Coburg sausages, pork is the dominant meat in the area.
01 20 42 11
Willi Pfeufer grows the wheat he feeds his pigs and looks after them with great care…
01 20 48 11
…but he said there is continuing economic pressure to keep more pigs in the same space.
01 20 58 19
In an area of traditional foods like Coburg where diploma’s of royal appointment still grace the walls of butcher’s shops, Konrad Schlick buys from only 7 pig farmers, including Willi.
01 21 11 00
As he mixed his secret spices for his sausages he explained that the recipe hasn’t changed for 6 generations.
01 21 24 07
The quantity of meat in each sausage was determined by the local counts until 1974 when the mayors took over. The Coburg Bratwurst has to have this approval. Only Konrad and four other butchers are authorized to make them.
01 21 42 12
Konrad blends beef, egg yolks and spices into a fine mince.
01 21 51 21
He adds pork belly and speck –a fatty bacon- and blends them until into a fine paste.
01 22 14 03
Then Wolf Henkel slides pigs intestines used for the sausage casings onto the spout of the pump and fills them with the mixture.
01 22 34 07
Konrad, Wolf and Helmut Panhans work efficiently as a team making kilo after kilo to be to sold from the stall in the square by Rosel.
01 22 44 09
Konrad is as proud of his wife and child as he is of carrying on the family tradition in the same shop as his forefathers.
01 22 56 03
There have been vineyards in Franconia for over 1000 years growing many varieties of grapes but mainly Elbling and Reisling.
01 23 12 08
In early spring, the plants are trimmed and tied back as the sap begins to rise.
01 23 18 04
This lets the sun reach all the branches.
01 23 21 11
Herr Zimmerman turned his vineyards to organic production in 1987 after he fell ill from pesticides. He has returned to old viniculture techniques like using rape seed oil against mildew. Only the strongest grapes survive which assure a richer taste.
01 23 39 12
The surrounding vineyard owners scoffed: “Zimerman’s lower yields, greater labour input and increased price will soon put him out of business”, but after winning many awards for his distinctive wines
neighbours too have changed to organic production.
01 24 07 10
In the kitchen of Mr. Zimmerman’s Wine cellar, Martha prepares a traditional sausage dish with carrots and onions sweetened with sugar, flavoured with bay and juniper and than cooked of course in their own white wine.
01 24 17 18
The sausage are added and boil while Herr Zimmerman tastes a bottle of his own wine.
01 24 46 06
When the sausages are cooked through and the alcohol has burnt off it is ready to be eaten by a local connoisseur.
01 25 57 24
In Franconia people see their way of life passing… family farms taken over by agri-corporations, fields planted with mono-crops and villages dying as older people watch their young leaving for the cities.
None the less, there are still visionaries and insistent hard workers who refuse to surrender and who continue to find ways to celebrate their traditions in the emptying countryside. Perhaps they may invigorate us all.
Quote:
Places we pass through; beautiful but strangely empty we think…
01 00 21 13
….strange because as the soil appears rich, deserted farms and villages and un-worked land don’t make sense.
01 00 35 19
There are few places in Europe which are without the mark of humanity but more and more places which are being emptied of communities…they become places to pass through.
01 01 06 22
In this episode we go to a rolling river valley in Germany’s south central state of Bavaria, a region called Franconia between Bamburg and Coburg.
01 01 19 14
Dense forests surround the rolling farm land.
01 01 30 20
This old mill run entirely by water power…no electricity, no effluent, waste or fossil fuel emissions. Farmers and bakers bring wheat and rye here to be ground.
01 0145 02
Helmut Löhner, 68 -a miller all his life. He runs the mill on his own, rushing down to the sluice that allow the water through, climbing up to the fly-wheels which clean the grains and climbing further to empty the grains into the hoppers where they begin the passage through the mill to become fine flour.
01 02 16 21
Between his heaving, hauling, opening and testing he said: “there used to be 15 mills on this river, now there’s just me and I’ll have to close soon…. there’s an industrial mill 10 kilometres away…. they do greater volumes more cheaply”.
01 02 31 06
But local farmers and bakers must travel the round trip, Helmut will be unemployed and the industrial mill runs using fossil fuels…what is cheaper for the bakers will be more expensive for the economy as a whole and damaging to the region’s ecology.
01 02 56 14
Helmut said: “My kids don’t want our mill.” Built by his father in the early 1930’s, its end saddens him. He admitted: “The passing of this life and the profession hurts a bit.”
01 03 08 19
In the late 1930’s the Nazi government forced farmers to stop making bread, butter and cheese, demanding all raw produce be sent to the fighting forces.
01 03 26 09
As the Nazis were defeated, the advancing American army laid waste to Franconia thinking it would wind up behind the iron curtain. During the Cold War, NATO believed this plain would be quickly invaded so the German government ignored its development.
01 03 46 18
When a people looses a part of their knowledge and traditions they lose a part of their identity.
01 03 54 09
They must struggle harder to keep alive the things for their children which have always defined them: music, food, beliefs and local myths.
01 04 04 02
In the village of Groszwalburg, Elke Böß(sz)endörfer and her daughter Gunda Groszmann make 70 loaves of Landbrod..the country bread…10 times a year.
01 04 18 16
After the dough is mixed it is formed into loaves, placed in wicker baskets and left in a warm room to mature and rise for an hour.
01 04 27 10
The communal oven is fired from apple, plum cherry, and Hazelwood collected by Elke during the winter. Villagers also produce cider and an apple wine and maintain a barter system.
01 04 39 17
The woman said communal cooking and bartering goods create society.
01 04 45 21
When the oven stones have heated enough, Elke brushes aside the embers and mops up cinders and ash.
01 05 00 14
Before sliding the now risen loaves in she paints them with water to crisp the crust as it bakes.
Humbly she said “The bread is made by guess work”.
01 05 12 04
Making the dough, forming the loaves, keeping the fire going and sliding the loaves in and out of the oven is strenuous work…
01 05 21 21
…but they do it because they wish to eat bread of their own making and because they say “it’s more healthy than store bought food”.
01 05 30 11
The women rest as the hot oven bakes the bread.
01 0537 10
Another way of keeping alive regional culture is seen in this castle, now the Germanisches Museum where a group of local musicians perform traditional music.
01 06 06 01
Finally the loaves are finished, filling the room with an odour which creates immediate hunger.
01 06 11 15
They are loaded onto the cart and distributed to the villagers who participate in the barter system.
01 06 22 18
The bread along with meat pies and sausages are assembled for a farmhouse lunch. The woman said: “the heart of our food is bread, bread and butter”.
01 06 37 10
Elka’s granddaughter said: “On a free day from college I helped my grandmother bake. It’s too hard; after my mother finishes, the tradition will die”.
01 0646 07
Gunda said “the young like the romance of it; maybe it will continue for special festivals…..but still they come and eat the bread.”
01 06 54 06
For the moment their community survives.
01 07 00 14
With a refreshing glass of cider the farmer said: “My secret of health is good food and 12 hours of work a day…..the more work I do the more I can drink”.
01 07 27 08
On the hills above Bamberg, a medieval jewel of a town, is the cathedral precinct with its stately palace.
01 07 35 03
Below, the old town boarders the river and its weir.
01 07 41 14
A few streets up from the river is the Mahrs Brewery making beers according to the thousand year old Reinheitsgebot rules combined with modern organic practices.
01 07 53 03
The owner’s son, Stefan Michael, oversees each process as testing the alcoholic content of the fermenting malt at this early stage of beer making.
01 08 07 01
Although a young man he has been working in the brewery for 16 years
01 08 24 20
In the brewery’s storeroom he smells, tastes and looks at each newly arrived sack of locally grown malt…Stefan personally knows all of his suppliers.
01 09 06 03
Amongst the spotless aluminium vats where the brewing occurs, Stefan appraises the odours, clarity, smoothness, bite and complexity of the flavours which he encourages from his organic raw materials.
01 09 27 03
In the brewery’s bar the loyal patrons show their appreciation for Stefan’s skill….
01 09 34 11
...over and over.
01 09 42 15
The area is dotted with beautiful walled towns and villages rich with sculptures and decorations representing the success of these once wealthy principalities.
01 10 09 12
During a spring festival, as the Hurdy-gurdy player sets a plangent mixture of nostalgia and sweetness, Andreas Martin, a one time forester sculpts life size boar out of tree trunks.
01 10 40 17
The barrel organ player said: “I do this because I am unfit for anything else”.
01 10 51 04
Stefan’s uncle Burchart, half owner of the brewery, is a thoughtful chef who has created a restaurant and beer garden serving traditional Franconian dishes.
With his normal meat supplier, the butcher Ingo Singer, he chooses and discusses the days best meats.
01 11 14 22
Later he does the same with Herr Eichfelder, owner of a town based kitchen garden which supplies Burchard his daily fresh vegetables from his 25.000 plants under glass.
01 11 27 11
Burchard and Heinz Katzenberger, his fellow chef, produce a stream of hearty dishes including a Bamberger Bierhaxe -a baked ham hock based on Burchard’s extensive library and memories of his grandmother’s cooking at the brewery.
01 11 41 14
Although he once ran a highly regarded nouvelle cuisine restaurant, he wanted a place where average families could afford to eat and feel comfortable. He has 80% returning guests…a success which shows how culture and food share a place at the dining table.
01 11 59 22
And in this region pork and beer share a place in the same dish.
01 12 06 19
Franconian specialties are pork, roast beef, Savoy cabbage, potato dumplings, ham, bread, duck pate, and white asparagus “but” he said “the old food was heavy. Some traditional food isn’t eaten anymore…things like tripe, calves breast, goat and poussin.
01 12 36 10
He lightens his sauces, serves more vegetables and adds a touch of spice -a response to healthy eating as well as to the influence of Turkish, Chinese and Italian restaurants which have changed people’s thinking about food.
01 13 02 24
Burchard is a thoughtful man who cares as much about his food as the identity of his region.
01 13 09 22
Stone walls and hedgerows are gone with the birds and insects who lived in them. This landscape result of German land redistribution and European Union pressure to create larger farming units to increase productivity.
01 13 29 04
The open fields are not suitable to graze herds which are now kept permanently in barns.
01 13 35 21
Helene Angemuller, her husband and son have 150 dairy cows whose diets and health are carefully overseen on their family farm at Grossheirath near Coburg.
01 13 50 21
Helene’s husband and son milk at least 70 cows twice every day. It takes up to 8 hours.
01 14 14 04
The udders are washed and the pumps attached over and over.
01 14 37 04
On these automated farms there is still a lot of manual labour. The milk is fed through an automatic pipe line to a cooler and then collected by the local co op.
01 14 54 11
These men have little rest and virtually no holidays as they struggle in a market which continually reduces the price of the only commodity they produce.
01 15 06 03
Early morning: Helene makes quark by warming the skimmed milk for a day and then separating the curds from the liquid or whey.
01 15 22 04
Chives are finely chopped and added to the cheese when it is served.
01 15 30 15
The fatty part of the milk is beaten and stirred into butter and the remaining liquid is drunk as a buttermilk..
01 15 40 08
Helene’s family have been in the area since 1700. She said ‘When I was a girl there were fifteen farms; now there are two… there are new buildings and industry…people don’t work on farms…there’s good and bad with this. People are selfish…they don’t take part in village life….they work away and return at night. They won’t do anything for nothing…not a lot of giving although happy to take our cakes and breads. It’s difficult to keep our community.’
01 16 06 03
For her the best part of her life is her freedom.
01 16 10 04
This butter is a delicate mousse, so light it is like a tease of a feather on the cheek.
01 16 31 03
A celebration of the much loved sweet water Carp at the Windfelder am See restaurant.
01 16 42 07
Herr Windfelder wades into one of his ponds to investigate the state of his carp.
01 16 48 05
He transfers them to his holding bins when they are 3 years old- big enough for a meal.
He said: ‘the most difficult thing is to always have the same quality…I feed the Carp a mixture of rye and wheat.’
Most of his recipes are traditional, but he’s created new ones…in this way traditions are modernized.
01 17 07 03
He saves their prized liver for cooking.
01 17 16 20
He said: ‘I had 16 people at a table; because I cook everything fresh, of course the dishes came staggered and they complained…I told them to go to McDonalds.’
01 17 33 05
For his Gebackener Karpfen, he bastes the fillets in flour while he begins to cook a Fillet of Carp in a Frankischer wine sauce..
01 18 05 07
He joins eggs and cream for the sauce and then returning to the fried carp he bathes the fillets in a mixture of beer and water and coats them in bread crumbs.
01 18 29 13
Then they are fried until the outside is browned and crispy and the insides moist and melting.
01 18 39 10
He removes the sautéed fillets from the wine and finishes the sauce with cream, wine and the much loved chives.
01 19 15 00
His wife and partner shows how to appreciate the fried fish.
01 19 31 11
Above Coburg is an austere castle with its triple defensive rings built in 1200.
01 19 45 10
But below in the town, decorated facades and the busy life filled market square reveal how European unity rather than war has created abundance and pleasure.
01 20 05 22
On every day of the year the odour of pinecones fills the square as local sausages are cooked over them by Rosel Gäth.
01 20 16 04
Noting else will do but to collect the pine cones every autumn for the years supply because only they offer the right smoke to help flavour the local much appreciated sausages.
01 20 30 08
There’s hardly a place to look where someone is not eating a sausage in the square.
01 20 35 17
As in Chef Michaels bier haxa and the Coburg sausages, pork is the dominant meat in the area.
01 20 42 11
Willi Pfeufer grows the wheat he feeds his pigs and looks after them with great care…
01 20 48 11
…but he said there is continuing economic pressure to keep more pigs in the same space.
01 20 58 19
In an area of traditional foods like Coburg where diploma’s of royal appointment still grace the walls of butcher’s shops, Konrad Schlick buys from only 7 pig farmers, including Willi.
01 21 11 00
As he mixed his secret spices for his sausages he explained that the recipe hasn’t changed for 6 generations.
01 21 24 07
The quantity of meat in each sausage was determined by the local counts until 1974 when the mayors took over. The Coburg Bratwurst has to have this approval. Only Konrad and four other butchers are authorized to make them.
01 21 42 12
Konrad blends beef, egg yolks and spices into a fine mince.
01 21 51 21
He adds pork belly and speck –a fatty bacon- and blends them until into a fine paste.
01 22 14 03
Then Wolf Henkel slides pigs intestines used for the sausage casings onto the spout of the pump and fills them with the mixture.
01 22 34 07
Konrad, Wolf and Helmut Panhans work efficiently as a team making kilo after kilo to be to sold from the stall in the square by Rosel.
01 22 44 09
Konrad is as proud of his wife and child as he is of carrying on the family tradition in the same shop as his forefathers.
01 22 56 03
There have been vineyards in Franconia for over 1000 years growing many varieties of grapes but mainly Elbling and Reisling.
01 23 12 08
In early spring, the plants are trimmed and tied back as the sap begins to rise.
01 23 18 04
This lets the sun reach all the branches.
01 23 21 11
Herr Zimmerman turned his vineyards to organic production in 1987 after he fell ill from pesticides. He has returned to old viniculture techniques like using rape seed oil against mildew. Only the strongest grapes survive which assure a richer taste.
01 23 39 12
The surrounding vineyard owners scoffed: “Zimerman’s lower yields, greater labour input and increased price will soon put him out of business”, but after winning many awards for his distinctive wines
neighbours too have changed to organic production.
01 24 07 10
In the kitchen of Mr. Zimmerman’s Wine cellar, Martha prepares a traditional sausage dish with carrots and onions sweetened with sugar, flavoured with bay and juniper and than cooked of course in their own white wine.
01 24 17 18
The sausage are added and boil while Herr Zimmerman tastes a bottle of his own wine.
01 24 46 06
When the sausages are cooked through and the alcohol has burnt off it is ready to be eaten by a local connoisseur.
01 25 57 24
In Franconia people see their way of life passing… family farms taken over by agri-corporations, fields planted with mono-crops and villages dying as older people watch their young leaving for the cities.
None the less, there are still visionaries and insistent hard workers who refuse to surrender and who continue to find ways to celebrate their traditions in the emptying countryside. Perhaps they may invigorate us all.
Quote: