Lebkuchen

I resisted eating lebkuchen in Frankfurt knowing that my next stop was Nüremberg, the mecca of lebkuchen. But now that I'm here I'm like a wired hummingbird zipping from one honey cake to the next.

Nüremberg's location made it an important medieval trading route and became known as the city of spices. The woods around Nüremberg also provided natural honey. So the monks had to figure out what to do with all that cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, and honey. Throw it in hot wine and bake cookies!

Lebkuchen have a long shelf life and are also decorated to hang on trees. While here I was determined to try lebkuchen made the same day. This seemed to confuse and challenge the vendors but I finally found a lebkuchenerie that had cookies coming out of the brick oven and finagled one. The texture was softer, the spices brighter, and the "oblate" was crisp and snappier than the processed versions. Lebkuchen dough is usually placed on a thin wafer base called Oblate. This was an idea of the monks who used unleavened communion wafer ingredients to prevent the dough from sticking.

Over 2000 cookies are placed on baking trays each minute and over 70 million are sold a year. They may set new records this year... you're welcome.