Print this Article
RSSGourmet News
By Friedrick, Joanne
Her own desire to locate hard-to-find items led Katharina Davitt to start the German Corner, an online store based in Keno, Ore., that offers a host of German-made items, including kitchenware products.
"I started missing certain things," explained Davitt, who said her father, who was a German-born chef, had also introduced her to the quality of Germanmade kitchenware.
"I started with hard-to-find things, then added more," she said.
"The kitchen section is always expanding," she added.
IngaBowyer, co-owner of GermanDeli. com, sells primarily specialty food from Germany, but is hoping to increase her kitchenware selection.
"They (the Germans) do a wonderful job with cookware," she said. "It's both beautiful and practical...and very high quality for the price."
Bowyer said much of the high-quality stainless steel used in kitchen gadgets and cutlery today was developed during World War II.
She has sold children's flatware on GermanDeli.com's Web site and plans to get into regular flatware, cutlery and kitchen gadgets.
While well versed in food, Bowyer said, "we're developing our expertise" in housewares.
Davitt carries a wide range of items, many of them used specifically for German dishes such as the springerle rolling pins and molds, Linzer cookie cutters and spaetzle makers.
She also carries bakeware and utensils from well-known German manufacturers Kaiser and Leifheit.
It is the quality of the products that makes German kitchenware appealing, said Davitt.
Even items no longer made in German factories and produced in China or Taiwan, "are made under German specifications," rather than mass-produced ones, she said.
One area where Davitt is increasing her inventory is with springerle rolling pins and molds.
"I have a small collection, but people are asking for them," she said, so she has contacted the remaining German producers to get products directly from them. The molds are made of birch or cherry and, she said, "can be used to make any cookies, not just German ones."
Increasingly popular are German scales. Davitt said she seeks out those that can be switched easily from the German measurement, which is in grams, to U.S. measurements in ounces.
Also translated into American measurements and English are German cookbooks sold at German Corner.
Coffee carafes are another area of consistent sales, said Davitt.
She noted that customers seem to believe the German brands keep the coffee hot longer.
"I'm not sure how they do it, but people seem to think so," she said.
One item Davitt developed herself is a quark-making kit.
Working with Salton-Maxim, Davitt said they adapted a yogurt maker to produce quark, which is a soft, spreadable cheese made from buttermilk.
At 5,000 kits sold, Davitt said it is her best-selling item.
Copyright United Publications, Inc. Oct 2005
