Festive foods around Europe
Food is a big part of Christmas for many people and there are so many different delicious treats to be found across Europe that you’ll be spoilt for choice if you want to try something new this festive season.
To help you to get started, we have picked some of our favourite festive foods around Europe which we hope you will consider for your Christmas feast...
Pepparkakor – A spicy biscuit from Sweden, Pepparkakor are also known as gingersnaps although they are traditionally made with pepper rather than ginger. Although they can be enjoyed throughout the year, during the Christmas season these tasty biscuits are made into festive shapes and decorated with icing, then are then often used as decorations. Thought to ward off depression and cure sickness, Pepparkakor are best enjoyed in a Swedish Christmas market with some delicious glogg (Swedish mulled wine).
Saffron buns – Another Swedish festive food, saffron buns are both sweet and spicy and contain saffron and raisins. They are baked into traditional shapes, like a reverse ‘S’ and are mostly enjoyed during advent, especially on St Lucy’s day which falls on the 13th of December. As saffron is expensive they are sometimes baked with yellow food colouring to intensify the colour.
Baklava – There are a number of different countries which claim baklava as their own, but it is thought that this sweet pastry treat originated in Greece or Turkey. Made from layers of filo pastry, chopped nuts and syrup or honey, baklava takes plenty of time and patience to make and the number of layers can vary. However, in Greece it is traditionally made up of 33 layers to represent the years of Christ’s life.
Stollen – A festive food that has become more popular in the UK over recent years, stollen is a German fruit bread made from dried fruit, nuts and spices which has then been decorated with a dusting of powdered sugar. Often boasting a marzipan centre, stollen can be enjoyed as it is, toasted, or made into bread and butter pudding if it is starting to become dry.
We hope that you enjoy the lead up to Christmas, and if you fancy trying one of these festive foods in their home country please do browse our range of brochures for inspiration!
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