Hemp, goat chees, pumpkin seed ice cream at Eis Greissler

Very often when you are walking down Rotenturmstraße in Vienna’s city centre you will see people queuing up in front of the small ice cream shop. Sometimes queues are so long that you have to wait for half an hour to buy ice cream. Lot of people ask is it worth waiting? My answer to everyone would be definitely it is! Those who try ice cream made by Eis Greissler for the first time are amazed by the natural flavor of its varieties. Pear ice cream tastes like pear, just chilled, strawberry ice cream, as if you were tasting a cool strawberry.

What is their secret?

Near the Krumbach small town in Lower Austria you will find a farm with about 50 cows managed by Andrea and Georg Blochberger. This secluded place is where the story of Eis Greissler begins. For years this family farm was supplying kindergartens, schools and the gastronomy of region Lower Austrian and even Vienna, with the self-milked organic milk. However every summer, when the schools close for holiday, they felt the gap in demand, so the logic demanded to use their milk in other purposes, such as making ice cream. That is how it all started. Since then customers had possibility to try over 100 ice cream varieties.

Everything on this farm is done in accordance to the strict rules of controlled organic farming. Secret of the popularity of their ice cream lies in quality ingredients they are using to make ice cream, own organic, local and mostly organic and Fair Trade ingredients. The artificial aromas, colours or preservatives are never used. They cooperate with the best Austrian producers such as Zotter which provides the best chocolate or Sonnentor nuts, fresh herbs and high-quality spices. Not only classics like strawberry and vanilla can be found in their ice cream shops. Tastes such as goat cheese, hemp or pumpkin seed oil which were initially seen sceptically by the customers are now indispensable. They offer regional and seasonal specialities such as the kiwi from Austrian region Weinviertler or "Dirndln" (Cornelian cherry in English) small, red, sour fruits.

First Eis Greissler ice cream shop opened in 2011 at Rotenturmstraße 14 in the heart of Vienna. Meanwhile, there is the Eis Greissler in six federal states. You can also visit their manufacturing facilities and farm near Krumbach, where you are offered guided tour, which takes place twice a day, begins with a rather funny film about the origin of the farm and then goes on to the barn, where one of the most important components, namely the keeping of the dairy cows and direct onward processing of the milk is explained. On this tour you can taste ingredients used in a production of the creative ice creams, including glass of creamy milk that tastes like the real milk, and at the end you get the coupon for 3 scoops of ice cream in their shop.