A Love Letter to the Local Plum

Plump and juicy, they hang from the trees in September. That’s when Barbian celebrates the plum with a lively festival and the Plum Weeks. And rightly so, because this fruit has a lot to offer.

There’s a buzz of activity at the Tschatscherhof. The Barbian farmwomen have gathered to prepare for the most important event of the year in their village: the Plum Festival. They’ve set up large tables and a huge pot of boiling oil. The day before, they already prepared the dough and the plum jam. Now they’re working like a well-oiled machine, making krapfen – a typical South Tyrolean treat. Roll out the dough, fill, fry, pack. “You could also fill them with spinach, fresh cheese or apricot jam,” says Doris, one of the women, “but not for this festival, of course. And anyway, Barbian plums are the best possible filling.” Everyone agrees.

A conversation follows about the many dishes in which the plum plays the lead – or at least a delicious supporting role. Like in Zwetschkendatschi, a yeast dough cake topped with plums, sometimes with crumble, sometimes without. Or sweet plum dumplings, served with fritters or rice pudding. Who doesn’t start to crave Kaiserschmarrn with caramelized plums? A local variation is the Proter, made with buckwheat flour. These will also be at the festival. “Dee-licious,” beams Angelika, the head of the farmwomen’s group. “You could also bake a plum crumble or lay them on pancakes. Thanks to their thickening texture, they’re also great in meat sauces, chutneys, or as a plum-lentil side dish.” Creativity knows no bounds, and Barbian’s restaurants take part in a recipe competition during the two Plum Weeks.

Resi Rabensteiner and her husband Elmar from the Rösslwirt inn, for example, make homemade ice cream. Their hay ice cream alone is worth a trip to Barbian. Add a scoop of plum ice cream and your day is complete. Luckily, the fruit is a true health booster! Packed with potassium, calcium and iron, it strengthens the immune system, protects cells, helps with water retention, supports eye and skin health, is rich in minerals and trace elements, and promotes digestion.

Luxury of asceticism – the Briol

Higher up in the mountains above Barbian stands a house with creaking stairs, crumbling lime on thick stone walls, and wooden facades weathered by harsh winters. And yet, the Briol radiates beauty, dignity, grandeur, and self-confidence. The wind of history has swept through its Bauhaus-style rooms.

Built in 1928, it is one of the few mountain inns established between the two World Wars—at a time when “Sommerfrische” (summer retreat) meant immersion in nature, silence, minimalism, and authenticity. Simplicity has always been the guiding principle here: shared bathrooms instead of en-suites, washbasins in rooms instead of showers, laundry fluttering in the wind instead of unsightly umbrellas, and distant views from balconies instead of television. In the garden, hikers and guests sit as they did a hundred years ago, enjoying the view of the Dolomites and delicious regional cuisine.

The Barbian farmwomen have finished their work and prepared hundreds of krapfen for the next day. You might think peace has finally settled over the farm. But then the whole family gathers: Christian with his wife and four children, along with his parents. Everyone has a basket or bucket and they spread out among the trees. As the evening sun bathes the Schlern mountain in golden light, they cheerfully harvest a few more kilos of plums.