The fourth part of my food portraits introduces Schneemilch, a traditional dessert from the Vinschgau Valley that’s hard to resist. And the best thing with this feel-good food is that it can be prepared in almost no time, with just a few ingredients.

Pure as the driven snow(milk)!
A soulfood recipe from the Vinschgau Valley

In our fourth food portrait we take a look at the Vinschgau region. From Töll to Lake Reschen, this valley, once very poor, now offers almost unlimited adventures.
And the cooking of the Vinschgau Valley has also come to be seen as rich and varied. The basis of all regional specialities, however, lies in the simplicity of the ingredients: so it’s home cooking and simple peasant recipes that underly the Vinschgau’s traditional dishes.

The best example of this is Vinschger Schneemilch (snow milk). The list of ingredients for this dessert dish is short and very flexible. Use is made of whatever the pantry has to offer – at least that’s how it was in the past. There is therefore no such thing as THE recipe, so Schneemilch will actually taste a little different wherever you go. Most versions are family recipes, however, passed on by word of mouth and relying on good sense and inherited know-how.
But, so you can experience a little bit of the Vinschgau Valley at home, I have prepared a basic recipe for you. Try it out and let your imagination run wild!

Ingredients as a dessert for four people:
150 g stale white bread, with the crust removed and cut into small cubes
½ vanilla pod
200 ml milk
20 g raisins
4 tbsp grappa, rum or passito
1 apple, grated or cut into small pieces
2 tbsp pine nuts (or walnuts)
2 tsp grated lemon zest
3 tbsp sugar (or 2 tbsp acacia honey)
150 g cream
1 tbsp powdered cinnamon
breadcrumbs as required
dark chocolate to garnish

Preparation:
Place the white bread in a bowl. Heat the milk with the scraped vanilla pulp and the vanilla pod in a saucepan and simmer for a few minutes. Remove the vanilla pod, pour the milk over the bread and leave covered for about 30 minutes without stirring.
In the meantime, soak the raisins in the grappa, rum or passito then lightly toast the pine nuts in a pan (without adding fat). Gently mix the soaked bread with the raisins, chopped apple, pine nuts, lemon zest and half of the sugar. The mixture should be moist and compact. Add breadcrumbs as required. Pour the bread mixture into the desired shallow dish, sprinkle lightly with cinnamon and leave covered in the fridge for at least two hours.
The “snow” is added before serving: whip the cream with the remaining sugar until stiff, then spread it evenly over the bread. Sprinkle with powdered cinnamon and grated dark chocolate to taste. Serve and enjoy!
By way of tradition, the Schneemilch is eaten directly from the pan with friends or family.

You can look forward to savouring the variants of Schneemilch made by the private hosts of the Vinschgau Valley. They might even let you look over their shoulders while they prepare it!

Enjoy!

Yours from the heart, Sabine