Around Christmas in last year, Yuki got "chocolate cookies " (I had thought they would have been chocolate cookies) from a German man. He seemed to say "they are special in Germany". At that time we had enough sweets, and the expiration date of the cookies is March. So I put it aside in the pantry.
Today I served for adult students, saying " these cookies seem to be popular in Germany". They were spicy and sweet, three of them seemed to like them. And all of them said "these cookies are different from usual ones. Why the back is white?"
I check the sign on the back of the bag. The sign was "Nuremberg Marzipan Gingerbread (Lebkuchen)".
Nuremberg is one of city in Germany, and it seems to be famous for lebkuchen.
And lebkuchen is a kind of cookie or bread with honey and lots of spices. They are specially eaten on Christmas. So the German must have take them the Christmas season.
I found an interesting account on lebkuchen.
7 comments:
We have a few German stores in France that sell these Lebkuchen and you can also get them in Alsace, in the East of France, where it is a tradition to eat them(near the German border). We mostly get them around Xmas, the one i get are in the shape of Hearts. It's delicious and very sweet !
Just started reading your diary coming from la vida loca in Japan, i love her diary too and just came across it recently too.
have a good day.
dom from France (French English teacher married to an Englishman , two kids too)
Except for the citrus peel, these seem similar to another traditionally Christmas cookie called Pfeffernusse, which I happened to make as gifts for neighbors and bridge friends this year. They have many spices (cardamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, white pepper, etc) and after baking are often covered with white powdered sugar (sometimes with a white glaze). Mieko, remember the little grocery store where you bought the chocolates as gifts to take back to Japan? That is a German-owned company and you often see products like this there, especially in the Christmas holiday season. I love their chocolate-covered gingerbread! Jan
Welcome dom.
Two years ago a French girl stayed with us for about three months, who came to Japan to study Japanese. So coming you reminded her of me.
I hope you come here constantly. (I try to update constantly.)
Jan, you always give a new thing. I looked for Pfeffernusse. --they are originally a Dutch treat baked during 'Sinterklaas', a feast on 5 December on which little children receive gifts from the holy St. Nicholas, the partial inspiration for Santa Claus. In Germany, Pfeffernüsse are traditionally made during the Christmas season.
It's interesting. Probably the differenceis the size.
MIeko,
In the north of France, in Alsace and in Belgium like in Germany, they celebrate Saint Nicholas on the 6th of december and when i was a kid (my grandmother was Austrian), my mom used to give me a gingerbread Saint Nicholas and some mandarines and chocolate coins.I reproduced this tradition with my kids when
they were small. Gingerbread tastes very nice and is like Lebkuchen actually with lots of spices, honey and sugar, cinnamon, etc...
Dom
Dom, thanks for your comments again. I sometimes bake cookies with ginger, because gigner is nice to make us warm.
Thank you for you coming, Mr.Lonely. Do you like TOFU, I like the way you disclibe yourself as TOFU. I like TOFU too.
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