Across the Fence: Mozartkugel

Today’s Germanism in the English language is probably most interesting for all of those among you who have a sweet tooth. A Mozartkugel (pronounce: Mo-tsart-koogle, meaning Mozart ball) is made from chocolate, pistachio, marzipan, and nougat. But this is where the similarity between Mozartkugeln (plural!) ends. Because it has become a generic name for ball-shaped creations made from the same ingredients.

The Mozartkugel was invented in Salzburg, Austria, the birth town of musical genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He would never know what a culinary hype he would cause although he must have been very much aware of being a hype in his lifetime already. He passed away in 1791, and the Mozartkugel was invented by Paul Fürst only in 1890. My hunch is, that it was in honor of the 100th anniversary of Mozart’s death coming around. To call anything after Mozart had become a fad in Salzburg by then, as by the middle of the 19th century tourists started streaming to the composer/musician’s native town.

The original Mozartkugel is still created by hand by Café/Pastry Shop Fürst in Salzburg. They even produce their own marzipan from almonds and pistachio! This mix rolled to a ball builds the center of the creation. It gets surrounded by a coat of nougat, speared on a skewer, then dipped into chocolate, dripped clear, and dried; the skewer hole gets sealed with a teensie drop of chocolate. The creation received a gold medal at a Paris exhibition in 1905; its wrapper design is still like that of the original ones, as well – silver and blue.

As Paul Fürst never patented his creation, soon other pastry chefs jumped on the idea of creating their own versions. You can imagine that there have been lots of lawsuits between the competitors as to who was to call these creations original or simply use the name Mozartkugel. In the end, there are many Mozartkugeln with different flavor profiles according to the ratio of the ingredients. But only Paul Fürst’s are permitted to be called Original Salzburger Mozartkugeln.

All those Mozartkugeln produced in automized ways have one flat side, by the way. The features that discern the original are its roundness and the little chocolate blob – the latter carefully wrapped away from Mozart’s face on the wrapper, of course. So, the next time you happen to find Mozartkugeln, give them a try and check how much they look and taste like the original ones. And if you happen to travel to Salzburg, get yourself the original treat!