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FijiFlavors · Nuremberg
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.
Traditional sweet from Nuremberg, Baviera
Also known as: Elisenlebkuchen, Nürnberger Elisenlebkuchen, Lebkuchen de Nuremberg
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Nürnberger Lebkuchen — Nuremberg, Germany
The Nürnberger Lebkuchen is a soft honey-and-spice biscuit made with walnuts, almonds or hazelnuts, cinnamon, clove, cardamom, allspice and nutmeg. The dough is usually baked on an Oblate, a thin flour wafer that prevents it from sticking to the tin. After baking, it may be plain, covered with chocolate or sugar icing, or decorated with almonds.
Nuremberg had special conditions to become the city of Lebkuchen. It was a meeting point for trade routes through which spices from far away arrived, and the surrounding forests had beekeepers who supplied the honey. There are records of Lebkuchen bakers in the city from 1395, and in 1643 the city council authorized a guild specifically for the trade.
The name is protected. Since 1996, Nürnberger Lebkuchen is a protected geographical indication of the European Union, and only Lebkuchen made within the city limits may use the name. The name covers several types, distinguished by the proportion of nuts and flour. The finest is the Elisenlebkuchen, with at least 25% nuts or almonds and very little flour. According to a local legend, the name honors a baker’s daughter.
Lebkuchen is Nuremberg’s Christmas sweet. During Advent it fills the stalls of the Christkindlesmarkt, the main square’s Christmas market, and the shop windows of the old town’s confectioners. Many households keep their own spice recipes. It is also sold out of season, in decorated tins and boxes that have become souvenirs of the city.
Nuremberg , Baviera
The Nürnberger Lebkuchen has a protected geographical indication and may only be produced within the limits of Nuremberg.
Honey and sugar, walnuts, almonds or hazelnuts, little flour (very little in Elisenlebkuchen), eggs, candied lemon or orange peel, and spices such as cinnamon, clove, cardamom, allspice and nutmeg and ginger. Wafer base (Oblate); chocolate or icing topping, depending on the type.
In pieces, with coffee or tea, as an afternoon sweet. The round ones on a wafer are eaten whole; those covered in chocolate are the most sought after.
Advent and Christmas, especially at Nuremberg’s Christmas market; it is sold year-round.
Your questions
It is the finest type of Nürnberger Lebkuchen, with at least 25% nuts or almonds and very little flour, baked on a thin wafer.
The wafer (Oblate) is a thin sheet of flour on which the dough is baked. It prevents the Lebkuchen from sticking to the tin and is part of the sweet.
Not under that name. Since 1996 it has been a protected geographical indication of the European Union, and only Lebkuchen made within the city limits may use the name.
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.
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.
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.
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.
