Salzburg Photos: Lebkuchen (Gingerbread) at the Christmas Market
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Lebkuchen is often translated as gingerbread. We are not really happy
with this translation, since gingerbread implies that it contains ginger - which
most Lebkuchen doesn't. Lebkuchen contains all sorts of spices, most importantly
cinnnamon, cardamom and cloves as well as flour, honey and other ingedients.
They are often decorated or enhanced with chocolate, sugar icing, dried fruits
or nuts. In this picture, you will notice that there are plenty of other cookies
that are not Lebkuchen. Weihnachtsgebäck or Kekse (Christmas cookies) comprise
of a very large number of different kinds of cookies and pastries. Most families
in Austria bake various sorts before Christmas; purists among the Christmas
cookie makers keep them the traditional way until the 24th of December; after
the midnight mass, lent ends and the cookie season is opened. More commonly,
people nowadays eat Christmas cookies throughout the advent season.
photo (c) visit-salzburg.net
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