Styrian Pumpkin Seed Oil

Styria grows a pumpkin whose seeds carry no hard shell, and that is what makes the oil possible: the seeds are dried, roasted and pressed, and what comes out is thick and almost black in the bottle but red-gold in a thin film, with a strong roasted-nut flavour. It takes a great deal of seed, and a lot of pumpkins, to fill a litre, which explains the price. It is never used for frying, because heat destroys it. Styrians put it on green salad with pumpkin seeds, into pumpkin soup, over sliced tomatoes, on fresh cheese and, quite seriously, over vanilla ice cream. The regional oil carries a protected geographical indication and a sealed band on the bottle.

What you actually see

• The colour trick - almost black in the bottle, red-gold when it is spread thin on a plate.
• The oil mills - working presses in the Styrian hills that sell direct and let you taste first.
• On ice cream - vanilla ice cream with the oil poured over it, a standard local dessert.
• The seal - the protected-origin band that separates regional oil from cheaper blends.

When to go

Pumpkins are harvested from late September into October and the mills press through the autumn, which is the time to visit a working press. The oil itself sells all year at markets and farm shops. Keep bottles dark and cool and use them within a few months of opening, since it turns rancid faster than olive oil does.

Honest expectations

The taste is assertive and not everyone takes to it; on the wrong dish it flattens everything else. It stains cloth permanently, including shirts and car seats, and the stain does not wash out. Cheap bottles are often cut with sunflower oil whatever the label implies. Prices per litre are high and it does not keep well once opened.

Nearby

Graz is the market town for the region, with the wine roads running south of it.