I found that I have been tricked into celebrating Christmas early here in Germany. The first stands of Christmas candies first appeared mid-October. I figured that they were not for Halloween, which they only kind of celebrate here, so I stayed away and ignored them. But it turns out it is hard to stay away from things you don't know are related to any holiday.
Visiting Dresden in the German state of Saxony was where I made my first fall. We were walking through an indoor market and looking at the sweets they were selling. "Original Dresden Stollen" the one bakery claimed. I am a sucker for original foods from a place. I feel that they are important to try. While there were many variations, I even bought the original kind (which just looks like bread). At the other bakery they sold Baumkuchen. This literally translates to tree cake, so I was intrigued. I asked in German (English is less common in Dresden than in Berlin) what Baumkuchen was. She explained (and I was proud to understand) that it was vanilla cake and marmalade layers inside the chocolate outside. I had not seen such a thing in Berlin, so I had to try it. We were out sightseeing for the day, so I resisted buying them immediately and having them get squished as we wandered. When we stopped in at the end of the day, I bought them and I brought them both back to Berlin to eat.Once in Berlin we opened them up to try them. I sliced the Stollen and found that really it was a kind of fruit cake. I was a little worried about this as some of the Stollen was sold in tins reminiscent of fruit cake. However, this was more like fresh bread with actual fruit (not green and red jelly things). It reminded me of Italian Panetonne in taste, but was looked a bit more like Irish Soda Bread. I figured since I don't really eat fruit cake at all, eating it out of season wasn't too bad.
The Baumkuchen was like a giant donut, most like an Entenmann's Chocolate Frosted Donut. The inside didn't really taste like jelly, it was just sweet. It is layered very thinly, hence looking like the layers of a cut tree instead of a layered cake. I found out later that it is a very long process to make Baumkuchen. This was the winner of the two. I was wondering if there were places in Berlin to get it.I didn't have long to wonder. A week or so later I was walking home and needed a snack. I stopped at a bakery (which I am amazed I don't do more often) to get a cookie. I noticed that they had Baumkuchen. I knew I hadn't seen it there before. I also noticed that the cookie options had changed some too. I ordered what looked like a nice chocolatey one called Lebkuchen. Once I bit into it while walking down the street, I realized why these things had suddenly appeared. I was eating gingerbread! It is fluffier and more like the texture of the frosted sugar cookies you get at the supermarkets in the US, but it was gingerbread. It was strong enough that it even masked the wonderful chocolate coating that made me get this cookie. This was when I realized I had been tricked into eating a Christmas cookie. With Thanksgiving still a few weeks away. And since Baumkuchen arrived to Berlin now too, it must also be a Christmas tradition.
Now that I know to be more careful, I have stayed away from anything I don't know. Friends have started talking about their favorite holiday foods, but I will wait another two weeks to try it. There is a Christmas Market that is already open, but I will wait. Gluhwein (hot mulled wine, which I learned about in my German class when we talked about Christmas) was all over Prague and now is all over in Berlin too. I am so excited for the Christmas Markets that will be all over Berlin, I am sure to be out surrounded by these things often in the upcoming weeks.
We will have to work on Thanksgiving here. I plan to cook a nice turkey dinner on the Saturday after. After that I will be ready for the Christmas Markets and food. And I'm sure I won't run short on time to try any of it!
No comments:
Post a Comment