She loved violets. So much so that Sisi even made exceptions to her pedantic diet to eat candied violets or flower sorbet. Sometimes she reportedly ate nothing else during the day. Because the later Empress Elisabeth of Austria had such a lasting impact on the Five Lakes region, the Starnberg Society for Economic and Tourism Development (GWT) decided to bring the violet ice cream to the market in cooperation with an ice cream parlor in Starnberg. But there was a problem with the ice. Because Sisi belongs to Capri. To be more precise: Capri-Sun GmbH had secured the naming rights for Sisi.
Is there in Starnberg: “Sisi’s violet ice cream”.
(Photo: Georgine Treybal)
“You can’t just use terms like Sisi and Ludwig commercially, you first have to clarify whether the brand name is protected or registered,” explains Isabell Bauch from GWT. For this reason, a lawyer was hired to clarify the legal situation. He has now found out that Capri-Sun GmbH secured the rights to sovereignty more than 20 years ago – in different spellings. The violet ice cream is therefore only real with a “wrong” apostrophe, often referred to as a “dumb apostrophe”: the decision was made to register and protect the treat as “Sisi’s violet ice cream” – an internal decision, says Bauch.
Elisabeth Eugenie Amalie von Wittelsbach (1837-1898), Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary: “Sisi” was famous for her strict diets, during which she sometimes only consumed candied violet blossoms or two oranges a day.
(Photo: Bernhaut/dpa)
The Starnberger variety is a sorbet that was prepared by the court kitchen according to the original recipe – just as the empress once consumed it. So far everything is going according to plan: The ice cream from the “Starnberger Eiswerkstatt” on Kirchplatz is selling well and is still in the range. And Capri-Sonne hasn’t complained either – which is probably due to the fact that the fruit juice manufacturer never planned to launch a royal product on the market. Capri-Sun secured the rights to sell a non-alcoholic soda drink, Bauch says. But that had nothing to do with imperial sovereignty: Sisi was only intended to be an abbreviation for a product that ultimately never appeared on the market.
Incidentally, this is where the circle between the empress and the juice producer comes full circle: on some days, Sisi’s strict diet is said to have consisted of just two oranges – the starting point for the “Capri-Sonne” flavor.