KACHEN #21 (Winter 2019) English edition

FEATURE
CINNAMON
Last but not least the perhaps most
famous and most typical of all the
Christmas spices: cinnamon is said to
be one of the oldest spices in the world.
As far back as 4000 years ago, the
dried bark of the tree belonging to the
laurel family was used in the Chinese
kitchen. Egyptians are said to have
used the spice for embalming their
mummies, alongside the refinement
of dishes. In Europe cinnamon was
counted as the most expensive
spice of all at the beginning of the
modern age. These days it is said
that the thinner the bark, the finer the
aroma. You can use cinnamon in the
form of a stick, ground, or in slices
for cooking. It works with basically
everything and definitely belongs
into your Christmas baking recipe:
the cinnamon stars.
VANILLA
Vanilla is the exception among the
spices as it derives from America
rather than Asia. The “queen of the
spices” is a dried seed vessel origi-
nally from the Mexican climbing orchid,
which is, these days, cultivated
predominantly on the islands in the
Indian Ocean. Beside cardamom and
saffron, vanilla counts itself among
the most expensive spices in the
world. No wonder, already the Aztecs
used the spice as currency to pay
back tax debts. According to legend,
their ruler, Montezuma, indulged
in 50 to 60 cups of cocoa sweetened
with vanilla daily. The spice made its
way to Europe through the Spanish
conqueror Hernán Cortés. Take care
when inhaling the scent: apparently
vanilla contains stimulating pheromones
– as is well known, these sexual
signals encourage “lust”. These
days, a cake or other sweet treat without
vanilla is almost unthinkable.
And what would Christmas be without
Vanillekipferln?
The taste? Sweet like vanilla ice
cream. Just without the ice cream.
CHRISTMAS: JUST AS
EXOTIC AS THE SPICES?
Well, yes. The Romans paid
homage to their god Saturn
on the 25th, the ancient
Egyptians celebrated the
god of light, Horus; for the
Germanic peoples Christmas
Day was midwinter and in the
Near East it was the birthday
of the Indian god of light. It
was in the year 217 that a
pope called Hippolyt tried to
tidy up the various beliefs
and declared the 25th of
December as the birthday
of Christ – which is how
Christmas Day came into
being. With such a multicultural
history, it is not a surprise that
the western Christmas bakery
encompasses so many
international ingredients.
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KACHEN No.21 | WINTER 19