Search
Brazil
Argentina
Bolivia
Chile
Colombia
Ecuador
Guyana
French Guiana
Falkland Islands (Malvinas)
Paraguay
Peru
Suriname
Uruguay
VenezuelaGermany
Austria
Belgium
Croatia
Denmark
Spain
Finland
France
Greece
the Netherlands
Hungary
Ireland
Iceland
Italy
Luxembourg
Norway
Poland
Portugal
the United Kingdom
the Czech Republic
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
the United States
Mexico
the Dominican RepublicTurkey
South Africa
Australia
FijiFlavors · Dresden
Sweet Christmas bread with raisins, candied orange and lemon peel, almonds and plenty of butter, coated with powdered sugar. Mentioned in Dresden since 1474, it has had protected geographical indication status since 2010.
Traditional sweet from Dresden, Saxônia
Also known as: Dresdner Stollen, Dresdner Weihnachtsstollen, Stollen de Dresden
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
Click a photo to enlarge it.
Dresdner Christstollen — Dresden, Germany
The Dresdner Christstollen is the Stollen, Dresden’s sweet Christmas bread. It is a dense yeast dough made with wheat flour, milk, a lot of butter, sugar, raisins, candied orange and lemon peel, and sweet and bitter almonds. After baking, the Stollen is brushed with melted butter and covered with a thick layer of powdered sugar.
The connection with Dresden is old. The earliest known mention appears in 1474, in an account from the St. Bartholomew hospital in the city. Originally, Stollen was a fasting bread, without butter or milk, which the Church forbade during Advent. According to the story told by the city’s confectioners, the princes of Saxony asked the pope to allow butter, and a papal letter of 1491, known as the butter letter, paved the way for the richer recipe.
In 1730, Elector Prince Augustus the Strong had a giant Stollen of about 1.8 tons baked for a large military celebration, the Zeithain encampment, and distributed it among guests and soldiers. The scene inspires the Dresdner Stollenfest, a festival held each year on the Saturday before the second Sunday of Advent: a huge Stollen parades through Dresden’s streets and is cut in front of the public, near the city’s Christmas market, the Striezelmarkt. The market’s name comes from Striezel, an old name for Stollen.
Since 2010, Dresdner Christstollen has been a protected geographical indication of the European Union. It may only be produced by bakeries and confectioneries in Dresden and in neighboring municipalities defined in the specification. A bakers’ association controls the basic recipe and awards a seal bearing the image of Augustus the Strong on horseback.
Dresden , Saxônia
The Dresdner Christstollen is a protected geographical indication, mentioned in Dresden since 1474 and celebrated at the city’s Stollenfest.
Wheat flour, yeast, milk, butter, sugar, raisins, candied orange and lemon peel, sweet and bitter almonds; melted butter and powdered sugar on top. Individual bakers may add spices.
In thin slices, with coffee or tea, during Advent and Christmas.
Advent and Christmas; the Dresdner Stollenfest takes place on the Saturday before the second Sunday of Advent.
Your questions
The earliest known mention dates from 1474, in an account of Dresden’s St. Bartholomew hospital.
It is the Stollen festival, held on the Saturday before the second Sunday of Advent. A giant Stollen parades through Dresden’s streets and is cut in front of the public, recalling the Stollen Augustus the Strong ordered baked in 1730.
It is a protected geographical indication and may only be produced in Dresden and in neighboring municipalities. The bakers’ association awards a seal depicting Augustus the Strong on horseback.
Flavors of Germany
Aachen spice cookie, sweetened with syrup and with small pieces of brown candi sugar that crackle when you bite them. It can be hard or soft, plain, with almonds or coated in chocolate. It has a protected geographical indication from the European Union.
Fresh pasta dough filled with ground meat, spinach, soaked bread, onion and herbs, served in broth, browned with onions, or sliced and fried with egg. A Swabian dish with protected geographical indication since 2009, traditional at Easter week.
Layered chocolate sponge cake soaked in Kirschwasser, the cherry brandy of the Black Forest, with cherries and whipped cream, topped with chocolate shavings. Black Forest tourism presents it as the region’s most famous sweet specialty.
Dark beer with a smoky flavor, made with malt dried in the smoke of beech firewood. Bamberg tourism presents it as part of the city’s identity, and the traditional preparation is listed in the Slow Food Ark of Taste.
Paste of camembert or brie cheese mashed with butter, paprika and, depending on the recipe, onion, cumin or beer; eaten with bread or a pretzel. A beer‑garden dish from Bavaria, with protected geographical indication since 2015.
Sausage sliced into rounds, topped with tomato sauce and curry powder, served with french fries or bread. The creation of the sauce is attributed to Herta Heuwer, who sold it in Berlin in 1949.
Kale slowly cooked with bacon, served with the smoked sausage Pinkel, smoked pork and potatoes. Bremen’s official portal presents it as the city’s best-known specialty, a winter dish of the Kohlfahrt.
Light, pale beer with top fermentation, served in a thin cylindrical 0.2‑liter glass by the breweries’ waiter, the Köbes. It is a protected geographical indication and may only be made in Cologne and in a few breweries in the region.
Amber-colored beer, top-fermented with a pronounced bitterness, brewed in Düsseldorf’s brewery-taverns from a mid-19th-century recipe. The city’s tourism promotion presents it as the typical drink of the Altstadt.
Cold sauce of seven chopped fresh herbs with sour cream, served with hard‑boiled eggs and potatoes. The mixture of the seven herbs, grown largely in the Oberrad neighborhood, has protected geographical indication.
Sweet made from fermented, laminated dough with butter, sugar and cinnamon, rolled and pressed until it takes its characteristic flattened shape. Hamburg’s official portal presents it as a specialty of the city.
Dry, acidic apple wine, fully fermented, served in the Bembel ceramic jug and in the diamond-patterned glass called the Gerippte. It is a protected geographical indication of Hesse, and the apple wine culture of the state is listed in the German inventory of intangible heritage.
Little tart of shortcrust pastry filled with marzipan, almonds and a touch of jam or a cherry, with two strips of pastry crossed on top. It replaced the roasted lark, a Leipzig dish until the hunting ban in 1876.
White veal sausage with bacon and parsley, warmed in hot water and served with sweet mustard and a pretzel, traditionally before midday. It is one of Munich’s best-known specialties.
Honey cake with spices, walnuts and almonds, often baked on a thin wafer and covered with chocolate or icing. It has a protected geographical indication since 1996 and may only be made within Nuremberg.
Pork sausages 7 to 9 centimeters long, seasoned with marjoram and grilled, served by the dozen with sauerkraut or inside a roll. They have protected geographical indication since 2003 and may only be made in Nuremberg.
Ball of strips of shortcrust pastry, fried and dusted with confectioners’ sugar, resembling a snowball. Rothenburg ob der Tauber tourism presents it as the city’s regional specialty.
Cake baked in thin layers on a spit that turns in front of a fire; when sliced it shows rings like those of a tree trunk. Made in Salzwedel since the early 19th century, it has been a protected geographical indication since 2010.
Long, thin pork sausage, 15 to 20 centimeters long, seasoned with marjoram, cumin and garlic, grilled over charcoal and eaten in a small roll with mustard. The earliest known mention dates from 1404, and the name has protected geographical indication status since 2004.
