The stollen tradition (2024)

The stollen tradition (1)

Stollen is “fruit bread” that typically lurks in the darker corners of supermarket bakery departments until Christmas, when it emerges like a glorious butterfly to take its rightful place front and center in the bakery section.

What is a Stollen?

The stollen tradition (2)

(Dusted and ready for consumption)

Think of a Stollen as the love child of a fruit cake and a loaf of bread: it’s typically baked from a yeasty dough (replete with dried fruit soaked in rum), then covered in icing sugar.

Like you’d expect, you eat a Stollen in slices, often with your coffee or Christmas punch. Some people put butter and jam on it.

As with just about every baked product in this part of the world, you find different varieties in Vienna. At Christmas, you often see marzipan, poppy seed or nut versions, though the kind with dried fruit remains the classic.

The stollen tradition (3)
See Also
Stollen

(Slicing reveals the dried fruit within)

Consider the Stollen an integral component of the Christmas bakery selection alongside Lebkuchen, Christmas biscuits and Spekulatius.

This delight has been part of that selection for centuries in central Europe. The earliest known written mention apparently involved an obligation placed on 14th-century bakers in Naumburg (just southwest of Leipzig) to deliver a Stollen or its equivalent to the local bishop at Christmas.

(Better than another pair of novelty socks.)

The Stollen now has many fans in the UK and USA, too, largely because you can make it quite easily. We bake them as seasonal gifts for friends and family each year; they last quite a few days in an airtight container.

How do you say Stollen?

At first glance, Stollen seems an easy word to say in Austrian-flavoured German – “stoll” to rhyme with “doll” (British English) and an “en” like in “burden” (ditto).

The “st” has a “shh” at the start though – “shhtollen”.

The stollen tradition (2024)

FAQs

What does the stollen symbolize? ›

Christmas classic: the stollen

Oblong in shape and sprinkled with icing sugar, the shape of the traditional German Christmas stollen symbolizes the Child Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes. In Germany, the stollen is as much a part of Christmastide as Christmas markets and Christmas trees.

What does stollen mean in German? ›

Stollen (German: [ˈʃtɔlən] or German: [ʃtɔln]) is a fruit bread of nuts, spices, and dried or candied fruit, coated with powdered sugar or icing sugar and often containing marzipan. It is a traditional German Christmas bread.

Why is stollen so expensive? ›

The regular stollen is $23.50, and there's one with a quarter-inch marzipan filling that costs $27. Why so expensive? Because they're extremely difficult to make, says one of Yalaha's bakers, Eberhard Rousse(ph).

Why do we eat stollen at Christmas? ›

Stollen also has religious symbolism, with the loaf of bread symbolising Christ's body. It represents the baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling garments by being coated with powdered sugar. As a result, it is also known as Christ Stollen or Christstollen.

What is the tradition of stollen? ›

The shape of Stollen-- this fold-over dough with a white top layer-- is symbolic of baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling cloths. It started as a fasting cake made during Advent when people couldn't use butter, milk, or fruits (due to fasting rules) so it started as a very plain bread.

Is stollen just for Christmas? ›

Stollen is really an all-purpose holiday treat. You could pull it out after a meal for a festive punctuation to supper when you don't want something too sweet.

What do Germans drink with stollen? ›

8 great wine and other matches for Stollen
  • Coffee. ...
  • Schnapps. ...
  • Spätlese, auslese or beerenauslese riesling. ...
  • Dark rum. ...
  • Pineau de Charentes* ...
  • Cognac and other oak-aged brandies such as armagnac or Spanish brandy. ...
  • Marsala dolce. ...
  • Amaretto.
Dec 10, 2023

Why does stollen last so long? ›

Our family recipe was crafted before the existence of refrigerators. The ingredients in our stollen have been time-tested to ensure a long shelf life. If stored in a cool and dry place such as a bread box or drawer, your stollen will last for months. We use no artificial preservatives.

How do Germans eat stollen? ›

Like you'd expect, you eat a Stollen in slices, often with your coffee or Christmas punch. Some people put butter and jam on it. As with just about every baked product in this part of the world, you find different varieties in Vienna.

Do Jews eat stollen? ›

The resulting product, called stollen in it's most generic form, was originally of Jewish origin, and was eaten throughout the Hanukkah season.

Should stollen be refrigerated? ›

Stollen has a very long life when packaged. Keep it wrapped well after slicing, perhaps even storing it in the refrigerator and letting it come to room temperature before serving.

What time of day do you eat stollen? ›

Serving the Stollen

Traditionally stollen is sliced and served as is with breakfast, although some people prefer to warm individual slices in a toaster or a microwave.

Is stollen eaten warm or cold? ›

Stollen is traditionally eaten at room temperature, with slices served either right away or very soon after being cut, but it's not rare to have it slightly warmed as well. In recent years it has become more and more common to have the slices toasted or microwaved before serving the bread.

Is stollen good for you? ›

Stollen is basically a yeast-based fruit cake with lots of sugar, butter, raisins, rum aroma and powdered sugar. Traditionally there is also high fructose corn sirup involved, so not exactly what you would call a healthy treat (but pretty delicious tbh).

Is stollen like fruitcake? ›

In Germany, fruitcakes (known as Stollen) don't quite resemble their American counterparts. Fruitcake vs. Stollen: Flattened with a chewy crust, Stollen is often baked more like a traditional loaf of sourdough bread.

What is the meaning of stolen bread? ›

Spelling is important — case in point, stolen vs. stollen bread. While the former refers to a loaf that someone has, er, omitted to pay for (thus passing the cost on to the rest of us shoppers in the form of a price increase), the latter is a tasty German Christmas treat.

What does the monkey symbolize in the Stolen Party? ›

The monkey entertains while Rosaura was in charge of the drinks, cake, and some of the magic tricks. What they don 't know is that they are both being used. Also the monkey can also symbolize all of the wonder and mystery of being rich. “You really and truly earned this,” she said, handing them over.

What is the most famous stollen? ›

Saxony's World Famous Delicacy. The Dresdner Christstollen is a piece of cultural history, a centuries-old baking tradition, a prevailing passion and, above all, a delicious treat. For centuries, Dresden's bakers and pastry makers have kept up this tradition, passing it on from generation to generation.

What is the gender of stollen in German? ›

Stollen {masculine}

stollen {noun} [Amer.]

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