{"id":8368,"date":"2026-10-19T23:31:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T14:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/?post_type=sweetlore&p=8368"},"modified":"2026-10-31T18:50:04","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T09:50:04","slug":"engadiner-nusstorte","status":"publish","type":"sweetlore","link":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/en\/sweetlore\/engadiner-nusstorte\/","title":{"rendered":"Engadiner Nusstorte"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Walnuts are bound together with caramel and enclosed in a tender, crumbly pastry laid over the base and sides, then covered with a pastry lid. The Engadiner Nusstorte, a representative confection of the canton of Graub\u00fcnden, is also known as the B\u00fcndner Nusstorte. It bears the name of a high valley, and its history also involves craftsmen who worked abroad.<\/p>\n

\n\"Cross-section\n
The cut surface of an Engadiner Nusstorte (May 6, 2009; location unknown). The walnut filling sits between a thin lid and base. Photo: Alexander Klink \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY 3.0<\/a>. Downscaled version obtained from Commons. No content alterations or cropping made by us.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Wrapping the walnut filling in pastry<\/h2>\n

The outer crust is M\u00fcrbteig, a dough that brings together flour, butter, sugar, egg and a small amount of salt. Rather than being kneaded at length, it is gathered together quickly, chilled, rolled out and fitted into the pan. In one method, about two-thirds of the dough is used for the base and sides, and the rest is set aside for the lid.<\/p>\n

Once the filling is in, the lid is placed over it, the edges are pressed to seal, and the top is pricked with a fork. Crust thickness, pan depth and baking conditions vary with the recipe and process, but the structure of enclosing the walnut filling on all sides is common to all. This lid is also a distinguishing feature when the Nusstorte is compared with the tarte aux noix of southwestern France.<\/p>\n

\n\"Filling\n
Close-up of the walnut and caramel filling (July 27, 2017; location unknown). Large pieces of walnut are packed inside the thin crust. Photo: \u00a9 Raimond Spekking \/ CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons) \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. Downscaled version obtained from Commons. No content alterations or cropping made by us.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Making a caramel soft enough to bite through<\/h2>\n

The filling is made by heating sugar until it colors, then combining it with cream and coarsely chopped walnuts. Rather than trapping the nuts in a hard candy made of sugar alone, the water and fat of the dairy are added to bring it to a consistency that can be sliced and bitten through. Because scorching the sugar heavily brings out bitterness, the cook proceeds while watching the color and aroma.<\/p>\n

In one recette (a recipe\u2019s ingredient proportions and method), honey is warmed first and caramelized with the sugar, then the pan is taken off the heat and the cream is added, followed by the walnuts. Another method colors the sugar, briefly toasts the walnuts in it, adds cream, and adds the honey once the sugar has dissolved. The differences lie not only in whether honey is used but also in whether the walnuts are toasted directly in the sugar.<\/p>\n

As an example made in Japan, Tsumagari in Hyogo Prefecture uses walnuts from Grenoble, France, and wraps a caramel made with honey and fresh cream in a cookie dough containing almond flour. It is the shop\u2019s own interpretation, keeping the walnut and caramel filling while adding the aroma of another nut to the crust as well.<\/p>\n

A local butter pastry and walnut confections from abroad<\/h2>\n

The Engadin has fuatscha grassa, a sweet baked good made with butter, whose name also appears in a Romansh-language document from 1773. The Nusstorte crust is a dough similar to this, made with somewhat less butter. Today\u2019s Nusstorte suggests connections both to the walnut confections that craftsmen encountered while working in southern France and to the sweet dough handed down in their home region.<\/p>\n

Imported walnuts and cultivation within Graub\u00fcnden<\/h2>\n

The high valley of the Engadin is not a warm place suited to growing walnuts. The confection\u2019s name is tied to the craftsmen\u2019s home region rather than to the land where its ingredients grow. Imported walnuts have long been used, and in recent years ingredients from abroad have still accounted for a large share.<\/p>\n

That said, it is not the case that walnuts cannot grow anywhere in Graub\u00fcnden. In places within the canton such as Malans, there are efforts to expand cultivation and processing, and some confectioners use local walnuts. A 2022 report by the public broadcaster, based on interviews with growers and confectioners, stated that local walnuts are more expensive than imports and limited in supply, and that they remain a small market.<\/p>\n

From Toulouse to Samedan<\/h2>\n

According to Swiss culinary heritage materials, Heinz & Tester in Toulouse made a caramel-filled walnut confection from 1881, and Fausto Pult, who worked there, began selling it in Samedan in 1926. This is one route by which Graub\u00fcnden craftsmen working abroad brought their skills back to their home region.<\/p>\n

According to his grandson Fadri Pult, his grandfather did not invent the confection but was the one who marketed it on a large scale. The historian Dolf Kaiser traces its origin to his ancestors\u2019 shop in Toulouse, while the Ribi family of Chur traces it to their own family\u2019s sales within the canton, which predated Pult\u2019s. In 2013 reporting, too, each family told a different origin story, and who first made it remains uncertain.<\/p>\n

Later commentaries also pass on the story that Pult introduced it widely at the 1934 Basel trade fair. The overlapping roles of those who devised the confection, those who learned the technique and brought it home, and those who sold and spread it locally and elsewhere made it the specialty it is today.<\/p>\n

\n\"View\n
The town of Samedan surrounded by mountains (August 23, 2006). A view connected to the present-day town where the confectioner Fausto Pult sold the confection after returning from Toulouse. Photo: Grischun~commonswiki (original uploader, published as own work), \u201cSamedan\u201d \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY 2.5<\/a>. Image obtained from the distributing source. No content alterations or cropping made for this use.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

From the late 1950s, a souvenir beyond the canton<\/h2>\n

It was from the late 1950s that it spread widely beyond the canton\u2019s borders. In 1968 it was described as a sweet export product. Travelers who bought it in the Engadin took it home to the lowlands, and the confection, sold to tourists in both summer and winter, eventually appeared in retail shops throughout Switzerland.<\/p>\n

While it became a signature product that local bakers sell to travelers, some people locally bake it at home to their own taste. Because it is made both in shops that sell it as a souvenir and in homes, differences in recipe also persist, such as whether one prefers the dairy richness of the caramel or the deep aroma of the walnuts.<\/p>\n

Serving it with tea, and how it differs from the Engadiner Torte<\/h2>\n

A whole torte packed with walnuts, caramel and butter is cut into small wedges once it has cooled and the filling has settled, and served with coffee or tea. It is made regardless of season, and because it is enclosed in its crust and keeps well, it has also long been popular as a travel souvenir.<\/p>\n

The Engadiner Torte, which shares the same regional name, is a different confection. It is a cake of thin layers and vanilla buttercream topped with a florentine<\/a> lid, and it is made differently from the Nusstorte, which encloses caramel-bound walnuts in a crust.<\/p>\n

In Bulle, in the Gruy\u00e8re region, the chocolate-coated \u201cg\u00e2teau bullois\u201d is said to have been created, inspired by this Nusstorte. It is an example of a walnut confection encountered while traveling being taken up by craftsmen in another place, who changed its finish.<\/p>\n

Glossary<\/h2>\n

G\u00e2teau bullois<\/strong>: A chocolate-coated walnut confection associated with Bulle, Switzerland.<\/p>

M\u00fcrbteig<\/strong>: A tender, crumbly dough from the German-speaking world, made by quickly bringing together flour, fat, sugar and other ingredients.<\/p>

B\u00fcndner<\/strong>: Meaning \u201cof the canton of Graub\u00fcnden.\u201d The Engadin is a region within that canton.<\/p>

Fuatscha grassa<\/strong>: A traditional sweet baked good of the Engadin made with butter. Its closeness to the Nusstorte crust has been noted.<\/p>

Fausto Pult<\/strong>: A confectioner who, after working in Toulouse, sold Nusstorte in Samedan in 1926.<\/p>

Florentine<\/strong>: A thin baked confection of nuts or fruit combined with sugar or honey and cream. Used as the lid of the Engadiner Torte.<\/p>

Dolf Kaiser<\/strong>: A historian who researched the history of Graub\u00fcnden craftsmen\u2019s emigration. He also refers to family origin stories surrounding the Nusstorte.<\/p>

Ribi family<\/strong>: A confectionery family in Chur. They tell of their own sales within the canton predating Pult\u2019s.<\/p>

Fadri Pult<\/strong>: Fausto\u2019s grandson. In a 2013 public broadcaster report, he explained that his grandfather did not claim to have invented the confection as a whole.<\/p>

References<\/h2>\n
  1. \n

    Patrimoine culinaire suisse, \u201cB\u00fcndner Nusstorte\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The g\u00e2teau bullois, described as a chocolate-coated variation by a craftsman in Bulle.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  2. \n

    Patrimoine culinaire suisse, \u201cNusstorte \/ Turta da nuschs\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Pastry enclosing the filling all around, emigrant craftsmen, Toulouse in 1881 and commercialization in the Engadin in 1926, expansion in the late 1950s, fuatscha grassa and the southern French confection, ways of eating it.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  3. \n

    SRF, \u201cEngadiner Nusstorte\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Quickly worked dough, chilling, division into two portions, a filling begun with honey and taken off the heat, the lid and holes, cooling.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  4. \n

    Swissmilk, \u201cEngadiner Nusstorte\u201d<\/a> \u2014 An alternative process of adding walnuts to the sugar and toasting them briefly, honey added afterward, sealing the crust.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  5. \n

    Patrimoine culinaire suisse, \u201cEngadiner Torte\u201d<\/a> \u2014 A separate confection with vanilla buttercream, thin layers and a florentine lid.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  6. \n

    SRF, \u201cF\u00fcr B\u00fcndner Nusstorte bleibt die heimische Nussernte zu gering\u201d (2022-10-08)<\/a> \u2014 Walnut cultivation and processing within the canton and their use by confectioners, the dominance of imports, the price and supply limits of local walnuts.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  7. \n

    SRF, \u201cB\u00fcndner Nusstorte: Wer h\u00e4tt\u2019s erfunda?\u201d (2013)<\/a> \u2014 Conflicting accounts from the Pult, Kaiser and Ribi families regarding priority and emigration.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  8. \n

    Cake House Tsumagari, \u201cG\u00e2teau Engadiner Nusstorte\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The ingredient-proportion description at 19\u201342 of the product text was read directly. The walnut origin, the honey and fresh cream, and the almond flour in the crust are limited to this product. Not generalized to the storage methods or sales periods of all Nusstorte.<\/p>\n<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The Engadiner Nusstorte is a round walnut confection representative of the Swiss canton of Graub\u00fcnden. A butter shortcrust dough forms the base, sides and lid, enclosing coarse walnuts coated in caramel and dairy cream. Cut into the low cake, and a dark brown filling appears between thin, golden layers of crust.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":7318,"menu_order":139,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_parade_sweetlore_meta":{"en":"Engadiner Nusstorte","subtitle":"Walnuts and caramel, wholly enclosed under a tender, crumbly lid","topics":"The crust and filling, made separately\uff0fAdding dairy fat to the caramel\uff0fIn the cold mountains, a skill brought home by traveling craftsmen\uff0fCut small, for an afternoon cup","country":"Engadin, Switzerland","show_toc":true,"ingredients":["nuts","cream","butter","egg"],"texture":["crumbly"],"occasion":["tea"],"method":["baked"],"season":[]},"footnotes":""},"sweetlore_category":[163],"class_list":["post-8368","sweetlore","type-sweetlore","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"sweetlore_related_products":null,"sweetlore_related_faqs":null,"sweetlore_related_voices":null,"sweetlore_related_mode":"auto","sweetlore_related_articles":null},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t