When the snow on the tops of the Austrian mountains begins to melt in spring, green meadows appear. And if you wait a few months longer, those green meadows will turn yellow with white, red and pink. In the summer, high in the mountains, countless flowers and plants grow and whoever walks through them may not realize what exactly it is or what you can do with it. One herb is just nice to make tea, the other has a medicinal effect. And since I love nature, the mountains in both summer and winter, it’s high time for a herbal walk to learn everything about it.
Grosses Walsertal
To make this herbal walk, I travel to the Großes Walsertal in the Austrian province of Vorarlberg. The Großes Walsertal is a so-called biosphere park, an area where people try to use nature as much as possible, without harming it. A global concept that is also supported by UNESCO.
Together with Hildegard Sperger from Alpenhotel Walsertal I set off. Hildegard comes from the region and is crazy about nature. In fact, she knows all about it. A herbal lady that is brimming with energy. Together we take the ski lift up and start at the Blumen Wander Lehrpad Fontanella-Faschina.
Not every flower or plant that you encounter in the mountains can be used for consumption. Some of it is poisonous and sometimes the differences are barely noticeable; you can eat a certain flower with four yellow leaves, but not the one with five. That’s why it’s good that Hildegard is there and knows everything about it. Actually, we are still a bit early, she tells me. It is the end of June but a few weeks ago there was still snow, which means that nature is a few weeks behind. You can pick flowers and herbs here as much as you want, because you are in a biosphere park. This is exactly as it is intended. And we are therefore not the only ones who stroll through the green alpine meadow like a real heidi with a wicker basket.
The best tea in Großes Walsertal
Of course you don’t drink tea in the Großes Walsertal from a bag, but you pick flowers and herbs yourself and let them dry. That’s quite normal here, everyone does it. According to Hildegard, you only need one thing for the tastiest tea: flowers and herbs that have never heard a car. And so we pick the ingredients for our tea as high up the mountain as possible, where cars have never been for sure. We pick wundklee, blutwurz, frauenmantel and silbermantel, among others. They are the main ingredients of Hildegard’s secret tea blend. Good against colds and it also prevents heart problems. And the taste is delicious!
The power of nature
During our herbal walk Hildegard tells a lot. Our walk takes a few hours and it is wonderful to be in the mountains. The fresh mountain air does me good and meanwhile we ‘candy’ all kinds of flowers. At the end of the afternoon I have honestly already forgotten a lot of names of herbs, we have also seen so many, but luckily I took pictures of the plates. What I do realize is that I have never thought about the power of nature so much. Many of the flowers and herbs that we pick would be destined as weeds in the Netherlands, because they were not planted there, but because nature has determined it that way. But when you see what you can do with it, you start to think differently about the concept of ‘weeds’. And whether it is really true, the effect of herbs is homeopathic and therefore not scientifically proven, the fact is that if you believe in it, it works.
Drinking our own picked tea is of course not possible, because the flowers have to dry for a while first. But we can use the leaves of the plants that we have picked, just like some flowers that you can also eat ‘fresh’. You can use it as a salad or – as we eat it in the evening – over ricotta. Because that’s the fun part of this day: we’re going to work in the kitchen of the hotel with the chef to prepare a meal!
Plan to take a herbal walk
If you want to take such a herbal walk yourself, you can do so in many different places in Austria. So here, in the Grosses Walsertal, but also for example in the Montafon (which is also in the Vorarlberg province) you can take a herbal walk. I would recommend it because it is a lot of fun to do. In any case, hiking is one of the best things to do in the summer in the mountains and you also learn something from it. And from now on you will also look at flowers on the side of the road differently, but don’t forget that you will find the most delicious flowers and herbs high in the mountains, where cars can’t go 🙂
