Fink's Delikatessen from the Styrian Volcano Region
Fink's Delikatessen is a manufactory in Walkersdorf near Ilz, where Bettina Fink-Haberl has been hand-preserving and bottling Styrian fruit and vegetables since 2002. Not a factory, but the preserving kitchen of an inn that has been in the family since 1899.
Fink's Delikatessen are preserved and bottled specialties from the Styrian Volcano Region, produced by Bettina Fink-Haberl and Hans Peter Fink in Walkersdorf near Ilz. Using neighborhood fruit and vegetables, they create compotes, jams, chutneys, pestos, and their signature dark-as-night black walnuts. We stock fourteen of these jars on our shelves, each one filled individually by hand.
From the Haberl Inn to a private manufactory
The manufactory grew out of an inn kitchen that has been cooking for five generations.
The inn in Walkersdorf has existed since 1899, and has carried the name Haberl since 1924. Bettina Fink-Haberl, born in 1978, learned to cook there, went on to work with Johanna Maier in Filzmoos, and later ran the kitchen at her in-laws' inn in Riegersburg. She knows both sides of the work: the stove where meals are cooked à la minute, and the kettle where an entire harvest is preserved for the winter.
In 2002, with the support of Alois Gölles, the vinegar and schnapps distiller from neighboring Riegersburg, she started her own project. Six years later, she took over both the manufactory and the inn. Her husband Hans Peter Fink, born in 1974, had previously cooked at the Arlberg Hospiz, with the Obauers in Salzburg, and in 2002 at the Hotel Sacher in Vienna, and has led the house's kitchen ever since.
Thus, two businesses remained under one roof, supporting each other. What makes sense on a plate in the restaurant goes into a jar next door. And what succeeds in the jar finds its way onto the evening menu. "Hospitality and enjoyment" is the ambition, as Bettina Fink-Haberl puts it. And you can tell from the jars that there is an inn behind them, not a bottling plant.
Compotes, jams, chutneys, and black walnuts
We stock fourteen jars, divided into three families: sweet for breakfast, savory for cheese, and rarities for festive plates.
The most popular items are the Apricot Jam with 73 percent fruit content and the Heart Cherry Jam, which takes on a dark, almost festive note with red wine, elderberry, and cardamom. Both are found in our Jams and Compotes section, along with three types of compotes.
In Austria, a "Röster" is a compote in which the fruit remains whole. The Plum Röster contains 87 percent fruit, the Apricot Röster 81 percent; both receive a splash of rum. The Cherry Röster blends sweet heart cherries with tart sour cherries and a pinch of ginger. Three jars, three characters, and all three belong over a warm Kaiserschmarrn.
Things get savory with Pesto and Chutney. The Pumpkin Pesto uses almost the entire oil pumpkin—flesh, seeds, and dark green seed oil—and tastes as profoundly of Styria as only the seed oil itself usually does. Alongside this are a tomato pesto with preserved black walnut and two chutneys: one made from apricot with curry and coconut, and one from redcurrant and onion.
Finally, among the Specialties are the jars that are rarely found elsewhere: whole or sliced black walnuts, sweet and sour vinegar plums in Gölles vinegar, a fruity chili dip, and rowan berries in syrup. No one likes to eat wild rowan berries raw, but only in the kettle do they lose their bitterness and reveal their sweetness.
Hand-peeled, stemmed, and preserved
Almost everything in the manufactory is done by hand, from peeling to labeling.
The fruit is mostly hand-peeled, cleaned, stemmed, and sliced; preserving, bottling, and labeling are also largely done by hand. The fruit comes from neighboring farmers, and the vinegar from Gölles in Riegersburg, just a few kilometers away. Short supply chains are not a philosophy thought up here, but simply the geography of the Volcano Region.
This corner of Eastern Styria owes its name to extinct volcanoes whose weathered soils still provide powerful aromas today. Pumpkin, apple, plum, and wine grow here in close proximity, complemented by vinegar and schnapps distilleries, oil mills, and creameries. Fink's Delikatessen sits in the middle of this neighborhood, and the assortment reads like a map of the region.
The apricots are supplied by Wolfgang Hackl from the Weinviertel, who cultivates around 23,000 trees near Atzelsdorf. "The apricot that really tastes like an apricot," Wolfgang Hackl says of his fruit, and this sentence has been on his crates since 2009. Summer pruning, early thinning, and compost fertilization ensure that the fruit delivers on his promise.
The black walnuts show most clearly how much time can go into a single jar. The green walnuts must be picked before St. John's Day on June 24th, while the shell and kernel are still soft enough to be pierced with wooden skewers. Then they bathe for weeks in water changed daily, before maturing in a spiced syrup with cinnamon, cloves, star anise, and vanilla.
Several months pass from picking to the finished jar. The walnuts come from Styria, Burgenland, and Hungary and carry the organic seal of the inspection body AT-BIO-301. Patience, good fruit, handcraft—this manufactory has no other recipe.
Styrian Entrepreneur of the Year 2017
In 2017, Bettina Fink-Haberl was awarded the title of Styrian Entrepreneur of the Year.
Her husband had already taken first place in the 1998/99 Cup of Nations, the culinary world championship in Canada. Bettina also sits on the board of the Thermen- und Vulkanland Steiermark tourism association, representing a region that stands for pumpkin seed oil, vinegar, and fruit brandies like almost no other in Austria.
In the meantime, Hans-Peter junior runs the inn's kitchen; he is a trained chef and a certified fruit and vegetable preserver. He could hardly have chosen a more fitting profession in this family. His wife Nina, a certified sommelier since 2022, handles the service.
In addition to the delicacies, the house also produces Fink's cakes and Fink's ice cream, both available only on-site. The sixth generation is thus already at the stove, and the assortment continues to grow. Impressive indeed.
Where best to start
If you are trying Fink's Delikatessen for the first time, it is best to go for the black walnuts.
Our tip for beginners: a jar of Black Walnuts with strong mountain cheese and a glass of port. One or two nuts per person are enough, they are that intense. And as soon as someone asks what this dark fruit is, the dinner conversation for the evening is guaranteed.
For a sweeter start, try the Plum Röster over a warm Kaiserschmarrn or with a spoonful of apricot jam in curd cheese. Things get savory with the Redcurrant Onion Chutney alongside liver pâté, cold roast meat, or simply next to a grilled sausage.
And for the cheese platter during Advent, the rowan berries are a conversation piece in themselves: tart, sweet, and entirely unique.
As a gift, the small jars bring joy anyway, especially because hardly anyone knows them. A chutney for cheese, a compote for a Sunday dessert, plus a jam for breakfast—this quickly becomes a gift that you won't find on just any shelf. Fourteen jars, one volcano region, one preserving kitchen. Taste your way through.
