Things of the heart from Thuringia
How an innkeeper invented the dumpling heart. How lard became vegan. What Erfurt is at least as good at as Dubai. Three Thuringian products that are full of passion.
Five hearts sizzle golden yellow in the pan. ‘Oh, what's that?’ ask two delighted women, taking a taste with a toothpick. They are potato dumplings, the flavour is classic, the shape all the more unusual. ‘We want to get a bit of magic out of the potato,’ says Matthias Schade, who invented the “dumpling heart”. And he has succeeded. The elegant packaging with the heart-shaped dumplings sell like hot cakes in the Thuringian Arch in Hall 20 - and not only there.
Dumpling hearts fresh from the bag
Matthias Schade is the owner and operator of a country inn in Gotha-Boilstädt. When all catering establishments had to close during the coronavirus pandemic, he didn't dwell on it for long, but continued to work on his pet project: a potato dumpling donut. ‘I had actually developed it as a small, fun potato product for children,’ he explains. Now he used his unexpected free time to perfect the production process.
The result: ‘We managed to turn the potato dough into a dimensionally stable product that doesn't need to be refrigerated.’ This means that the potato hearts or donuts can be kept in the bag for three months without refrigeration until they are freshly fried. The process earned him an innovation award and research funding. In the meantime, Schade has founded the ‘Schadinis Kloßmanufaktur Gotha’, secured his process as a world patent and is negotiating with investors, as his production capacities are no longer sufficient to meet demand.
Pistachio nougat truffles from the Erfurt Krämerbrücke
Steffen Mewers cuts the ‘bridge truffles’ into tiny pieces - that alone is addictive. ‘When you let the truffles melt in your mouth, you get this chocolatey melt,’ he explains, handing over the next pistachio truffle. ‘We've been making pistachio truffles for three years.’ Long before the hype surrounding Dubai chocolate. Goldhelm Schokoladen Manufaktur from Erfurt's Krämerbrücke also has these in its programme at the request of customers, but not at Grüne Woche. Instead, the Thuringian Forest Shop offers the finest truffles, dark chocolate with sour cherries or pine nuts and hazelnuts, sailor's chocolate or Erfurt rum pot. All handmade and delicious.
With grandma's tips: Vegan lard and wild goat cream cheese
Regional delicacies that taste good and contain no additives - this is particularly important to brothers Steffen and Jörg Weiß. They run the Feinschmeckerschmiede in Erfurt, a family business that used to be a market garden in GDR times. ‘We work with natural preservatives and draw on our grandmother's recipes and experience,’ says Jörg Weiß. At Grüne Woche, they sell cream cheese as ‘Mediterranean Cream’, ‘Horseradish Kick’, ‘Gaumenfeuer’ or ‘Wild Goat’, as well as ‘Grandma's Greaves Lard’ and a brand new product: vegan lard - without palm oil, but with coconut fat, onions and apples. ‘If it's vegan, then it has to be healthy,’ says Jörg Weiß.
