Austrian Chocolate Controversy Over Mozart Sweets Strikes A Sour Note

At a small high-end confectionery in Vienna, chefs put the finishing touches to one of Austria’s signature souvenirs: Mozart chocolate balls filled with marzipan, pistachio, and rich almond and hazelnut nougat.

Family-owned Leschanz still painstakingly makes the Mozartkugel chocolates by hand before putting them in their signature wrapping, featuring a portrait of Austria’s 18th-century composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

But Leschanz is in the minority these days – and with the number of brands rising, the chocolate balls beloved by tourists and locals alike are often no longer even produced in Austria.

US food giant Mondelez, which owns one of the most recognisable brands, moved its production from the Austrian city of Salzburg – Mozart’s birthplace – to Eastern Europe last month, reigniting a heated and long-running marketing debate.

Wolfgang Leschanz, owner of the Leschanz chocolate factory, displays handmade Mozartkugel chocolates at his plant in Vienna, Austria, on April 23. Photo: AFP

“It’s a shame, because Mozart balls are an Austrian product,” said head confectioner and owner Wolfgang Leschanz, 75.

At his firm, 10 time-honoured steps are required to make one single Mozartkugel and about 20,000 of the delicacies are freshly made to order each year.

Invented by confectioner Paul Fuerst in Salzburg in 1890, the Mozartkugel became popular in Europe after winning a gold medal at a Paris food fair in 1905.

Fuerst’s great-great-grandson Martin now owns the business, which produces around 3.5 million handmade balls annually, still in Salzburg and still using the traditional recipe.

A historic photograph of confectioner Paul Fuerst, inventor of the authentic Mozartkugel chocolates, is seen at Cafe Konditorei Fuerst in Salzburg. Photo: AFP

Fuerst chocolates can now be ordered online for delivery across the European Union.

But with rising popularity have come imitators and an array of knock-offs, different fillings, wrappings, names – and also competing claims and legal disputes.

The Fuerst family had to fight for years for recognition of their “Original Salzburger Mozartkugel” wrapped in silver foil with blue print – including in the courts – because their progenitor made the mistake of not protecting his creation in the first place.

A man cycles past the Salzburg shop of Reber, German heavyweight producer of Mozartkugel chocolates, on April 16. Photo: AFP

Mozart chocolates do not have protected designation of origin status, a European protection for food-related products from certain geographical areas, such as champagne and Parmesan cheese.

Even German heavyweight Reber, which produces 500,000 balls daily just across the border from Salzburg, is allowed to call its Mozart balls “authentic”, even if it cannot use the term “original”.

Mondelez International, formerly known as Kraft Foods, declined to reveal where within its “European network” it began manufacturing the newly launched “Authentic Mirabell Mozartkugeln” in April.

For decades, the group’s chocolates had been made at a plant in Salzburg – but the facility closed last year after teetering on the brink of bankruptcy for years.

Citing high cocoa prices and rising costs for energy, Mondelez said its Mirabell brand was “a real gem” but the weight of the products had to be reduced slightly “to remain competitive”.

Mondelez’s Mozart balls currently sell for about US$0.50 apiece, while one of Leschanz’s handmade confections costs more than seven times that amount.

Andreas Heindl, managing director of chocolate maker Heindl, one of the producers of Mozartkugel chocolates, at the Heindl plant in Vienna on April 22. Photo: AFP

The Pro-Ge trade union, representing more than 60 workers laid off when the Salzburg plant closed, criticised Mondelez’s “lack of transparency” about its new production site.

“The supply chain of an egg can be traced better than that,” it said.

Viennese chocolatier Heindl also voiced concern about Austria’s emblematic confection being produced “somewhere in Eastern Europe”.

“The Mozartkugel is a flagship product of Austria, just like the Sachertorte chocolate cake or the apple strudel or the poppy seed strudel,” managing director Andreas Heindl said.

“When someone comes to Austria, they want to take Austrian products home with them, especially when it’s Mozartkugeln,” said the 63-year-old, whose father founded the firm.

People walk past a Mostly Mozart souvenir store in Vienna on April 9. Photo: AFP

He said he could not imagine moving production abroad to save money, even with cocoa prices tripling hitting businesses hard.

Leschanz likened Mozart balls produced outside Austria to a “souvenir cup emblazoned with Mozart’s portrait” that is bought in haste only for the purchaser to discover it said “Made in China” on the bottom.