Genussmanufaktur Faller: in the open copper kettle since 1913

Some family recipes come out of necessity. At Faller in the southern Black Forest, the question was what to do with the fruit left over in the shop. The answer became a manufactory that is run by the third generation today.

It began in a washhouse

In 1913, Alfred and Therese Faller ran a grocery shop in Schönau in the southern Black Forest. Farmers from the region brought gathered fruit and berries to the shop. Whatever was not sold, Therese cooked down in a wood-fired copper kettle – following the old household principle of “pound for pound” – and sold as jam.

That washhouse grew into a business: the first jam factory in 1938, the resumption of production by son Martin in 1950, and the takeover by Thomas Faller in the third generation in 1991. Production has been in Utzenfeld since 2007. Thomas Faller, grandson of the founder, runs the company together with his wife Bettina.

Twelve minutes that make the difference

To this day, Faller stirs by hand in the open copper kettle – four of them stand in the manufactory, with only around 100 kilograms of fruit mass per kettle. “After all, we care about being and remaining a manufactory”, as they put it in-house.

The hemispherical copper kettle has an ideal ratio of content to heatable surface and conducts heat excellently. That is why 12 to 15 minutes of cooking time per kettle are enough. Exactly this preserves aroma and colour – you can see it in the jam and taste it immediately.

What is in it – and what is not

Faller uses only natural ingredients. Instead of citric acid, concentrated lemon juice is used, and setting is achieved with high-quality apple pectin. Large quantities of the fruit and berries come from the Kaiserstuhl, the Markgräflerland and the Ortenau, in part in organic quality, from long-standing partnerships with farmers in the region.

The manufactory is certified organic (DE-ÖKO-005), has been certified to ISO 22000 since 2017 and is a member of the Slow Food movement. Around 90 employees produce more than 50 varieties – from small family guesthouses to the Adlon in Berlin, hotels rely on these jars.

Our Faller selection

The Baden black cherry jam is famous, the strawberry is the perennial favourite. The insider tip in the house is elderberry: deep black, with the nutty aroma of the elderberry seeds.

With us you will also find the reduced-sugar fruit spreads, specialities such as Williams pear with cinnamon or plum with gingerbread spice, the beer jellies with Tannenzäpfle and wheat beer, and the Faller honeys. A jar of jam sounds unspectacular – until you have tasted the difference on your Sunday bread.