When the steaming Hüüsminäshtra is served at the Moosalp, it contains much more than just vegetables, spices and a good recipe. It is a piece of life, a piece of home and the story of a woman who has been cooking with love and dedication for 89 years: Balbina.
The vegetables that form the basis of the Hüüsminäschtra grow in front of her house in Törbel. carrots, leeks, celery. Simple, honest, unadulterated. Balbina knows every bed, every plant. With patient hands, she reaps what she has raised. Her small garden is the origin of a dish that has significance far beyond the Moosalp.
The blue bucket
When Balbina Kalbermatten places the large pot on the stove in her kitchen, a familiar scent fills the whole house. It is the scent of warmth and security, of all the meals she has cooked for her family in her life. With every movement of her hand, every seasoning, every stirring, she places a piece of herself in the soup.
When the Hüüsminäshtra is ready, she fills Balbina into a simple, blue bucket. No big effort, no staging. Just pure authenticity. Amadé picks up the bucket and brings it up to the Moosalp. The Hüüsminäschtra is served there just as it was cooked in Törbel: unchanged, honest, full of character.
The mother and the cook
Balbina is more than the creator of this Hüüsminäshtra. It is also the reason why Amadé became a chef in the first place. Her advice was pragmatic and wise at the same time: “Become a chef and you'll never be cold and there's always something to eat.” Perhaps it was this sentence, perhaps the countless hours spent at the kitchen table, perhaps the love for simplicity: in any case, Balbina laid the foundation for a passion that can still be felt today.
If you order Balbinas Hüüsminäschtra at Moosalp, you get more than one meal. You get a story about the garden in Törbel, from a mother who, at 89 years of age, still cooks with dedication, and from a son who has turned this dedication into his profession and vocation.
A plate of balbina's soup is a plate full of home, full of heart and a piece of moss salp that you can enjoy with all your senses.
