Spoonfuls of Germany


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Holiday bread with a pedigree

Bremer Klaben

Sweet German Christmas specialties are the only area that seems to be untouched and untainted by the stereotype surrounding German cuisine.

Every Christmas season, German producers ship their goods all over the world, in wooden boxes and colorful metal tins embossed with winter village scenes. Continue reading


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The alpha squash

Red Kuri squash

From the tremendous variety of winter squashes available in Germany today – some growers offer several dozen different types – one would never guess that winter squash was virtually absent from the food scene when I left Germany 15 years ago. Continue reading


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Chestnut love

Chestnut mousse

Nothing says fall for me like chestnuts do. On my way to school as a first grader I filled my pockets with them on crisp October mornings, a habit I continued as an adult. Those were the inedible chestnuts from the horse chestnut tree, Aesculus hippocastanum.

The best moment for me was always taking the chestnuts out of their thick, fleshy burrs and let the cool fruit with a surface like polished mahogany slowly warm in my cusped hand. Continue reading