Oysters are more than just a fancy snack on Sylt. The tradition of oyster farming in the region around what is now Sylt dates back to the 11th century. Even in the Stone Age, oysters were among the most important sources of food there. No wonder, because the maritime preciousness has it all: It is rich in iron, iodine, calcium, magnesium and B vitamins. This, together with its high protein and low fat content, makes it a real "super food" from today's perspective. However, their great popularity in the past led to overfishing of the European oyster. As a result, oyster fishing on Sylt was stopped at the end of the 20th century. Attempts to cultivate the shellfish on site failed again and again. It was not until 1986 that Dittmeyer's Oyster Company in List succeeded with commercial cultivation. With a new oyster species, the Pacific rock oyster, a legally protected brand product was created under the name "Sylter Royal". The Sylt delicacy tastes nutty and tangy and is also a royal treat due to its high meat content. Whether pure, with lemon, butter, truffle, bacon, au gratin, smoked, baked, as an appetizer or main course - once cracked, it proves how much creative variety it contains. No wonder it is part of the fixed repertoire of Michelin-starred restaurants on Sylt. It can also be found on the menu in restaurants without Michelin awards. For example, it cannot be missed in the cult restaurant Sansibar in Rantum. However, the Sylter Royal plays the unrestricted leading role on the menus of the Lister Austernperle and, of course, in Dittmeyer's Bistro in List, where you can also attend oyster seminars.

What can't be missing from a special meal? A good wine. Since 2013, this has also been harvested, processed and partly stored on Sylt. Climate change is only partly responsible for this. The specially bred grape variety "Solaris" defies the changeable and often harsh weather of the island. Near the famous village church in Keitum, a group of cooperatively organized autodidacts and the Palatine winery Ress each cultivate an area of vines. However, one looks in vain for a vineyard on the island. The robust grapes grow here in vine meadows. The result: two tangy country wines with different notes. While the cooperative's "Sölviin" is somewhat fresher with aromas of pear, gooseberry or quince, the "Söl'ing" from the Palatine winery Ress has notes of peach, pineapple and mango. The wine is offered in selected restaurants on Sylt. Anyone who wants to buy a bottle for home should get a move on. Currently, only just over 1,000 bottles per year are sold in Sylt's grocery stores, at selected wine retailers and in the online store. By the way, the grapevine is not the only Mediterranean plant that has now established itself on the northernmost tip of Germany. You can even make use of original Sylt lemons to refine a noble oyster feast. 

You can smell Sylt. Anyone who has been to Sylt even once in the summertime associates a very specific smell with the island. The heavenly scent of the Sylt dog rose "Rosa Rugosa". By the thousands, the bright pink blossoms of the extremely prickly hedges open from May onwards. They grow along the dune slopes or line numerous Sylt gardens as a natural border. From there they exude their lovely and at the same time spicy aroma, which promises summer, beach and pure nature. The "rough rose", as the Latin name translates, defies wind and weather and thrives even in the sandiest soils - as if made for Sylt. Arriving on the island only about 100 years ago, the Sylt hedge rose has always inspired culinary inventiveness. Sylt's star chefs, such as Johannes King (Söl'ring Hof), swear upon the Ruga Rosa and have developed numerous products and recipes around the rose. For the Sylt rose sugar, the leaves are harvested by hand, gently dried, finely grinded and mixed with fine-grained sugar. It not only lends the incomparable Sylt aroma to pastries, desserts and - in the form of syrup - cocktails, but also provides a particularly attractive visual note. The rose is also used in rose gin, rose cake and rose sparkling wine. You can buy Sylt rose sugar and other rose products in selected stores on the island.