Carmen offered us a personal tour of Dresden last Christmas and we took her up on it today, albeit a bit late for the Christmas market. The first ever Christmas market was in Dresden in the 1400s and the city is now known as the Christmas stollen capital of Germany…and the world. During December they have a parade with the world’s biggest stollen pulled on a cart by eight horses. Apparently back then the Christmas stollen, made only of flour, yeast, and water, resembled and tasted more like the rough stones that braced the mineshafts. (The translation of stollen is a tunnel in a mine). The people of Dresden wanted a better Stollen so they wrote a letter to the Pope in Rome asking for permission to use butter. After a long wait, they got a yes IF they paid a special fee to the church. This became known as the legendary “Butter Letter” and today’s much-improved stollen was baked. If I were casting about for a thesis topic, I would research the Butter Letter. Today only certified bakers in Dresden can bake authentic Dresdener Stollen so imagine my reverence when I happened upon one in a bakery today. I opted for the marzipan version which probably cost the bakers an additional letter and fee to the Pope. Amen!
Sent from Ann's iPhone
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