Wajos Grissini with Garlic & Parsley. Thin breadsticks with olive oil, 2 percent parsley and 1 percent garlic – the snack that finds its place on the table alongside dips, cheese, and wine.
Wajos Grissini with Garlic & Parsley are thin, crispy breadsticks made from wheat flour, olive oil, palm oil, yeast, 2 percent parsley, 1 percent garlic, and salt. Each 200g pack comes from Wajos in Dohr on the Moselle. This is not a snack with cheese dust, not a cracker, and not a bake-at-home bread – but rather a shelf-stable Italian pastry that is dry, savory, and keeps for a long time. Contains wheat; may contain traces of sesame.
Grissini with Garlic & Parsley from Wajos are what we put on the table when guests arrive and dinner is still on the stove. A bowl of aioli or a jar of sugo, the sticks beside it, a glass of wine – and the half-hour wait until the main course is saved. The kids grab them from the package to munch on plain while they wait. For us, they are the best-selling grissini variety after the Mini Grissini. They taste of garlic and parsley, but so subtly that no one at the table will turn their head away.
Crispy, salty, with a backdrop of garlic and parsley
The taste is that of a good, dry white bread with olive oil: light, salty, with a malty note from the wheat malt flour. The 2 percent parsley is visible as green flecks and perceptible as a herbal tone; the 1 percent garlic is mild and rounded – more like roasted, sweet garlic than raw. The sticks are firm and snap when broken; they remain dry and light rather than greasy or soft.
They are baked with olive oil and palm oil—we mention this because some people look for it. With 442 kilocalories per 100 grams, they are a pastry rather than a light snack, and at 2.9 grams of salt, they are robustly seasoned—a reason to go easy on the salt in your dip. They contain wheat and may contain traces of sesame. If you are looking for a snack without any garlic, try the Mini Grissini, made only with flour, oil, yeast, and salt.
For dips, antipasti, wrapped in ham – and as a spoon substitute for sugo
Their first role is with dip: Aioli, tzatziki, hummus, or a herb quark, with the grissini serving as the spoon. The garlic note complements all Mediterranean dips, and unlike chips, they hold up well to the dip. On an antipasti platter, they sit between olives, sun-dried tomatoes, and mozzarella; with a glass of wine, they are what nuts used to be.
The second use is the Italian classic: a slice of Parma ham or bresaola wrapped spirally around the stick, with a dab of cream cheese acting as glue. This is an appetizer that is ready in ten minutes and is the first thing to disappear from any buffet. With soup – tomato soup, minestrone, gazpacho – they replace bread; broken into pieces over a Caesar salad, they act as croutons. Kids like them with cream cheese or just plain in their lunchboxes. For a picnic, they are the snack that keeps your bag clean and holds up in the heat: a pack, a jar of dip, a few tomatoes, and your afternoon in the park is sorted. And if you only want a glass of wine and something small in the evening, place the sticks on the table with a few olives – that is enough.
What doesn't work: letting grissini soak in sauce or placing them on a plate under warm food – they will become soft in minutes and lose everything that makes them special. And if you open a pack and eat three sticks, you should seal the rest tightly: they draw moisture from the air, and after two days, they will become tough.
Our tip: Place the grissini in a glass, alongside a bowl of Basil infused Olive Oil and a few drops of Fig-Date Crema for dipping – the appetizer we recommend for this pack.
The pastry for oil, dip, and wine from the Wajos range
Wajos from Dohr near Cochem on the Moselle is a family business with around 900 items, most of which are created in-house – cremas, spiced oils, dip mixes, sauces, and liqueurs. The grissini are the accompanying pastry, intended as a side for their own dips and oils; Wajos does not disclose where they are baked, so we leave it open as well. The name behind the brand is Walter Josef Oster, a winemaker from Ediger-Eller, where his family has been making wine for 15 generations. He started with liqueur in the 1980s; his son Peter Oster and Ulf Schwichtenberg turned it into a brand with over 80 employees and their own stores—and a range where food belongs alongside the wine.
The pack for guest evenings, lunchboxes, and gift bundles with dip mixes
For us, these grissini are the pack we recommend with every dip mix and spiced oil – they turn a jar into a complete gift. For an aperitif for two, half a pack is enough; for a buffet of eight people, you need two. If you are putting together a package for Italy fans, include a sugo, a spiced oil, and these grissini – three things that make for an evening where the stove stays cold. The tomato and basil version, the Grissini with Tomato-Basil, is the fruitier sibling; all three varieties are on our Wajos page.
Store in a dry place away from light; once opened, store in a tin or sealed with a clip. The grissini are not suitable for anyone with a gluten intolerance, for those who avoid palm oil, or as a base for a full dinner—they are a side, not a substitute for bread.
Thin sticks with olive oil, garlic, and parsley – the Wajos pastry that fills the waiting time before dinner between your dip and your wine.
