Lebkuchen
Lebkuchen are traditional German Christmas cookies similar to gingerbread, which were probably invented by Medieval monks in Franconia, Germany in the 13th century. Lebkuchen bakers were recorded as early as 1296 in Ulm, and 1395 in Nuremberg, but today, the most famous Lebkuchen come from Nuremberg, from where they are exported all over the world.
Sometimes Lebkuchen are packaged in richly decorated nostalgic tins and boxes which have become collectors' items. Lebkuchen range in taste from spicy to sweet and come in a variety of shapes with round being the most common. The ingredients usually include honey, spices and nuts, almonds or candied fruit. The Lebkuchen dough is often placed on a thin wafer base called Oblate. This was an idea of the monks who used communion wafers to prevent the dough from sticking.
The forerunner of today's Lebkuchen was called 'honey cake' and its history can be traced back to the Egyptians, the Greek and the Romans. They believed honey was a gift of the gods and had magical and healing powers. Honey cakes were also worn as a talisman in battle or as protection against evil spirits. Teutonic peoples used honey cakes for the same purpose especially around the winter solstice, which might be the reason Lebkuchen became associated with Christmas.
Since 1808, Nuremberg gingerbread of the best quality is called Elisenlebkuchen. It is uncertain whether the name Elise refers to the daughter of a gingerbread baker or the wife of a margrave. Since 1996, Nürnberger Lebkuchen is a Protected Designation of Origin.
Lebkuchen are usually soft, but a very hard and generally inedible type of Lebkuchen is used to produce Lebkuchen hearts, usually inscribed with icing, which are available at many German fairs and the witch houses made popular by Hansel and Gretel. The closest German equivalent of the gingerbread man is the Honigkuchenpferd (honey cake horse).
The etymology of the term Lebkuchen is uncertain, but derivations from the Latin libum (flat bread) and from the Germanic word Laib (loaf) have been proposed. Historically, Lebkuchen was also known as honey cake (Honigkuchen) and pepper cake (Pfefferkuchen).
