
Früchtebrot (also called ''Berewecke'', ''Birnenbrot'', ''Hutzenbrot'', ''Hutzelbrot'', ''Kletzenbrot'', ''Schnitzbrot'' or ''Zelten'') is a sweet, dark
bread
Bread is a baked food product made from water, flour, and often yeast. It is a staple food across the world, particularly in Europe and the Middle East. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cu ...
baked with
dried fruit
Dried fruit is fruit from which the majority of the original water content has been removed prior to cooking or being eaten on its own. Drying may occur either naturally, by sun, through the use of industrial dehydrators, or by freeze drying. ...
.
Früchtebrot is commonly baked into small oblong
loaves. The bread has a juicy, firm texture with visible bits of
fruit
In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering.
Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...
and
nuts. It often contains
almond
The almond (''Prunus amygdalus'', Synonym (taxonomy)#Botany, syn. ''Prunus dulcis'') is a species of tree from the genus ''Prunus''. Along with the peach, it is classified in the subgenus ''Amygdalus'', distinguished from the other subgenera ...
s and
maraschino cherries. Früchtebrot has a long shelf life.
Background
In
southern Germany,
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
as well as
South Tyrol
South Tyrol ( , ; ; ), officially the Autonomous Province of Bolzano – South Tyrol, is an autonomous administrative division, autonomous provinces of Italy, province in northern Italy. Together with Trentino, South Tyrol forms the autonomo ...
and
Trentino
Trentino (), officially the Autonomous Province of Trento (; ; ), is an Autonomous province#Italy, autonomous province of Italy in the Northern Italy, country's far north. Trentino and South Tyrol constitute the Regions of Italy, region of Tren ...
in
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
, Früchtebrot is most often prepared in advent time with dried
pear
Pears are fruits produced and consumed around the world, growing on a tree and harvested in late summer into mid-autumn. The pear tree and shrub are a species of genus ''Pyrus'' , in the Family (biology), family Rosaceae, bearing the Pome, po ...
s. Dialectally the pears are known as ''Hutzeln'', ''Hutzen'' (
Alemannic German
Alemannic, or rarely Alemannish (''Alemannisch'', ), is a group of High German dialects. The name derives from the ancient Germanic tribal confederation known as the Alemanni ("all men").
Distribution
Alemannic dialects are spoken by approxi ...
) or ''Kletzen'' (
Bavarian-Austrian) and thus the bread itself is also known as ''Hutzenbrot'' or ''Kletzenbrot''. Through better quality of life or import of
tropical fruit
There are many fruits that typically grow in warm tropical climates or equatorial areas.
Tropical fruits
Varieties of tropical fruit include:
* Abiu
* Açaí
* Acerola (West Indian cherry; Barbados cherry)
* Achachairú (Bolivian mangosteen; ...
s the bread has developed to be filled with dried fruits such as
plum
A plum is a fruit of some species in Prunus subg. Prunus, ''Prunus'' subg. ''Prunus'.'' Dried plums are often called prunes, though in the United States they may be labeled as 'dried plums', especially during the 21st century.
Plums are ...
s,
raisin
A raisin is a Dried fruit, dried grape. Raisins are produced in many regions of the world and may be eaten raw or used in cooking, baking, and brewing. In the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia and South Afri ...
s,
apricot
An apricot (, ) is a fruit, or the tree that bears the fruit, of several species in the genus ''Prunus''.
Usually an apricot is from the species '' P. armeniaca'', but the fruits of the other species in ''Prunus'' sect. ''Armeniaca'' are also ...
s,
dates,
figs,
oranges or
lemon
The lemon (''Citrus'' × ''limon'') is a species of small evergreen tree in the ''Citrus'' genus of the flowering plant family Rutaceae. A true lemon is a hybrid of the citron and the bitter orange. Its origins are uncertain, but some ...
s. Originally Früchtebrot was made without
honey
Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several species of bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of pl ...
,
brown sugar
Brown sugar is a sucrose sugar product with a distinctive brown color due to the presence of molasses. It is either an unrefined or partially refined soft sugar consisting of sugar crystals with some residual molasses content or produced by t ...
or
white sugar, with the sweetness coming only from the dried pears. Equally uncommon is Früchtebrot made of
wheat
Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...
dough. Using wheat dough makes the bread look less rustic, but also hinders the
combustion
Combustion, or burning, is a high-temperature exothermic redox chemical reaction between a fuel (the reductant) and an oxidant, usually atmospheric oxygen, that produces oxidized, often gaseous products, in a mixture termed as smoke. Combustion ...
of the fruits baked into it.
In upper Allgäu, which was very poor because of its poor soil, "Birnebrot" was eaten at Christmas evening. This was commonly accompanied with a glass of "
Obstler" - a high-alcoholic, aromatic
schnapps
Schnapps ( or ) or schnaps is a type of alcoholic beverage that may take several forms, including distilled fruit brandies, herbal liqueurs, infusions, and "flavored liqueurs" made by adding fruit syrups, spices, or artificial flavorings to ...
made of apples and pears. Children of poor families sang advent and Christmas songs in front of farm houses and received "Singâte", in other words Birnebrot, as a reward. Nowadays hardly anyone knows of this term any more.
In
Bolzano
Bolzano ( ; ; or ) is the capital city of South Tyrol (officially the province of Bolzano), Northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third largest in historical Tyrol. The ...
the ''Bozner Zelten'' has been prepared at
advent time since the Middle Ages.
Usage
Baking Früchtebrot began on
Saint Andrew's Day on 30 November. On the night of Saint Andrew's Day, masked young men asked for gifts, including Früchtebrot.
Früchtebrot was a part of the festive food on
Saint Nicholas
Saint Nicholas of Myra (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Patara (Lycia), Patara in Anatolia (in modern-day Antalya ...
's Day.
On
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas, the festival commemorating nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus. Christmas Day is observance of Christmas by country, observed around the world, and Christma ...
and
Boxing Day
Boxing Day, also called as Offering Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide (26 December). Boxing Day was once a day to donate gifts to those in need, but it has evolved to become a part ...
Früchtebrot was sliced and dealt out by the father of the family. Children,
farmworkers and
maid
A maid, housemaid, or maidservant is a female domestic worker. In the Victorian era, domestic service was the second-largest category of employment in England and Wales, after agricultural work. In developed Western nations, full-time maids a ...
s each received their share. To bring luck to the stables, the animals also received Früchtebrot as a gift.
An old
engagement tradition is the slicing of Früchtebrot. Women who had reached an age to marry gave the ends of the loaves as gifts to their lovers, with the edges cut smooth to show their affection, or with the edges cut rough to end the relationship.
In literature
Eduard Mörike (1804-1875) dedicated a story called ''"Stuttgarter Hutzelmännlein"'' to Früchtebrot:
{{blockquote, The Hutzelmännchen gives to the cobbler Seppe, grown tired of his master, a pair of lucky shoes and a loaf of Früchtebrot for his journey. Thus he is well prepared for his journey from
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...
over the
Swabian Jura to
Ulm - and even further...
Thomas Mann
Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...
describes Früchtebrot as the speciality of the sanatorium in Monstein in his book ''
The Magic Mountain''. In the chapter "The great irritation" he writers: "The day-trippers ordered food from the landlady who was happy to serve them: coffee, honey, white bread and Früchtebrot, the speciality of the house."
Many children know of Früchtebrot from the famous children's storybook ''
The Very Hungry Caterpillar''.
[Kemper, Hella: ]
Mehr, mehr, mehr!
', ZEIT online.
See also
*
Barmbrack, traditional Irish fruit bread
References
External links
Kletzenbrotat the portal ''Brauchtumsseiten''
Recipe for Früchtenbrotat ''SalzburgerLand Magazin''
entry #172 at the register of traditional Austrian foods, at the Austrian
Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Regions and Tourism
German breads
Austrian breads