Austrian Nature Park Specialties
Eating and enjoying, what we want to protect
There are 48 Nature Parks in Austria - they represent characteristic cultural landscapes. The beauty and charm, which are the main draws of these landscapes, are mainly due to keeping the traditional way of producing goods by farmers of the regions.
If rural specialties they produce can´t be brought on the market because they are being replaced by agro industrially produced goods, the typical cultural landscape will be endangered.
20 Nature Parks cooperate in an EU project and focus on the production of culinary delights. Their products are part of the brand “Austrian Nature Park Specialties”. The brand stands for conservation of the cultural landscape, pleasure and highest quality.
The protection of the nature and landscape and the traditionally produced products are connected with each other. In meadows with fruit trees (Streuobstwiese) exist little owls, hoopoes, different bat species and many other rare animals and plants. We benefit from the different juices, ciders, schnapps and jams – often from old fruit species like the Hirschbirne (pear) or the Maschanzker apple.
In the alpine Nature Parks goats, sheep and cattle graze alps and other areas which cannot be used intensely. They prevent these areas from being overgrown and protect, for example, in the case of the Fließer Sonnenhänge in Tyrol, the habitat for butterflies and wild bee's. At the same time they deliver the "raw material" for a wide range of cheese and sausages as well as high-quality meat.
Wild and garden herbs, wild fruits like rose hips and blackthorn and rare plants like the hemp provide variety and change in the cultural landscape. They can be tasted in teas, jams, syrups and oils.
The wine-growing also plays an important role in the Nature Parks. With its typical reeds it stamps the scenery in some Nature Parks in the Burgenland, Lower Austria and Styria.
Where do I get Nature Park Specialties?
The „Austrian Nature Park Specialties“ are available in the Nature Parks which cooperate in the EU-project – in the Nature Park offices, farm stores or in food stores. You can find a list of outlets in the Nature Park offices and on www.naturpark-spezialitaeten.at. Besides you can also order some of the Nature Park Specialties directly on the homepage.
