Smoked hut, Gams near Frohnleiten

Smoking has been used to preserve meat all over the world for thousands of years. The hut, made of logs, gets its smoke from a heating device located about 4 metres in front of the smokehouse in the mountainside. As the smoke cools down on its way into the smoked meat chamber, it is referred to as ‘cold smoked meat’, which means that the smoked meat takes longer but is of a better quality. If cranawhite (juniper) or other herbs were added to the heating material, this improved the flavour of the bacon, meat or sausages.