Anyone that has been to Germany knows one thing about this beautiful country – its people love their sweets. Whether it is chocolates or candies or baked goods – it’s all about the Germans when it comes to having a National Sweet Tooth.
I’m pretty well traveled, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything that quite compares to the Germans and their love of cakes and cookies and pastry. The French are close (as I’ve spent some time there), but I have to say the Germans take yet another Gold medal – Pastry-Lover Champions of the World.
Walk down almost any street and you see bakeries and shoppes, big windows filled with delectable treats. And, each one of these calorie-laden sugar bombs is calling my name. So far, I’ve been pretty good at holding off on breaking the bakery doors off the hinges, jumping head first on top of them, and munching myself into sugar shock.
I said, “pretty good”…not great.
Yes, I’ve sampled the local fare, and I have to say, it is spectacular! The only problem is that there is too much choice. Who knew the Germans were such bakers? Not me. I’ve learned different.
Actually, they have a local specialty cookie called the “printen.” It’s a kind of gingerbread, but not quite. The tent selling cookies and cakes across from the Main Press Center is hard to pass, and one day, I stopped by and asked a very nice man (who spoke excellent English) a few questions. I learned that some of the cookies are sweetened with sugar, and some are sweetened with honey.
A visit to the Aachen tourism website and you can learn more than you ever wanted to know about the history of the cookies and cakes that are this region’s legacy.
For example:
“The Aachener printen bakers had to do without many spices and especially the American wild-flower honey, which before the blockade, was traded from England. True to the adage “necessity is the mother of invention”, the bakers grabbed their molasses jar! Moreover, because Napoleon understandingly promoted the cultivation of sugar beets for reasons of continental self-sufficiency, there was now domestic sugar made from sugar beets to replace foreign sugar cane. However, with molasses and beet sugar, the printen dough became sticky and could no longer be pressed into the fine baking moulds. The taste was also different. Thus, the “rougher” molasses and beet sugar-containing “Napoleon”-printe was born…”
Fascinating! I had no clue there was such history baked into each delicious cookie. I guess I never thought about “food history” before, but I’m beginning to find it intriguing and I want to learn more, and not just about the cookies and cakes that I’ve come to drool over every time I am forced to walk by them. It can be agonizing to watch the endless crowds carrying them as they parade by me.
And, if there is something that can be done to a cookie or pastry, the Germans have done it. I wouldn’t try to count the variety. And this definitely extends to the land of candy.
Now, as an American, I am fully aware of the ridiculous amounts of sugar we consume (it’s in sodas, candy, and in the “hidden” form of carbs in chips and bread, etc.). But, I’ve discovered a veritable Candyland here in Germany, and it bares the name HARIBO. It’s practically sacred here.
My trusted WEG journalist-in-arms, USEF’s National Marketing Manager Jeannie Putney, has tried her best to get me to go with her to the HARIBO stand located less than a quarter-kilometer from our home at the Main Press Center. I keep refusing, but resistance is beginning to wear thin. I’m afraid.
The other day, from behind her back, she presented the most innocent looking of bags, printed on it were little red hearts. “How could this hold anything bad?” I thought to myself. Then she opened it, like some mischievous descendant of Willy Wonka.
Inside this bag were the most delicious little candies that looked like red and black raspberries. “You’ve got to try these!” she said, already hopped up on sugar.
“Uh, I don’t know,” I said. “I’m not much of a candy fan.” I lied.
She looked at me as if I had just said, “No thanks, I don’t care much for AIR.”
I took the bait, and now I find myself craving these amazing things. With my luck, I won’t be able to find them when I get home.
Better enjoy then while I’m here. That’s enough rambling for now…I’m off to Candlyland.
It’s a sweet trip.
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