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What are the Alsatian Christmas specialities?
In brief
Six specialities shape Christmas in Alsace: bredele, small biscuits in dozens of recipes; the mannele, a brioche figure eaten on 6 December; gingerbread, whose capital has been Gertwiller since 1768; berawecka, a dried-fruit loaf; mulled wine, often made with white wine in Alsace; and Christmas beer, brewed for the season.
An Alsatian Christmas market is as much tasted as looked at, and most visitors leave without having identified half of what they saw on the stalls. This page describes what is eaten and drunk between late November and 31 December, what each product actually is, and where it is found at its best.
Bredele, and why there are dozens
A bredele is not one biscuit but a family. Every Alsatian household bakes several kinds from late November, kept in tins until the holidays. The main ones you will come across:
- Butterbredele: a butter shortbread, the base, cut into stars and fir trees.
- Schwowebredele: almonds and cinnamon, denser and more fragrant.
- Anisbredele: flavoured with aniseed, recognisable by its pale crust and meringue-like texture.
- Spritzbredele: piped dough, in rings or sticks.
- Leckerli: honey and spices, closer to gingerbread than to shortbread.
The mannele, on 6 December and no other day
The mannele is a small figure of milk-bread dough, sometimes with chocolate chips, which Alsatian bakeries make only around Saint Nicholas. It is eaten on 6 December, the day Saint Nicholas visits the children, well before Christmas. Finding one on 20 December is possible in tourist areas, but it is no longer the tradition: the product is tied to a date, not decorative.
Gingerbread, and why it comes from Gertwiller
Gertwiller, some thirty kilometres south of Strasbourg, is the Alsatian capital of gingerbread: the village counted nine factories around 1900. It is there that Charles Fortwenger opened his workshop in 1768, and production today runs to hundreds of tonnes a year. Alsatian gingerbread differs from its Dijon cousin in its use of honey and a spice mix in which cinnamon and aniseed dominate. On the markets it comes as a block, as an iced heart or filled with jam.
Berawecka, the loaf of the holidays
Literally pear bread, berawecka is the least known to visitors and the most distinctive. It is a barely leavened dough loaded with dried pears, figs, dates, walnuts and almonds, steeped in kirsch. The result is dense, almost black, and cut into thin slices. It keeps for several weeks, which makes it the only one of these products you can take home without particular care.
Alsatian mulled wine is often white
This surprises many visitors: where mulled wine is red almost everywhere else, Alsace frequently makes it with white wine, which gives a sharper, less tannic drink. Both versions sit side by side on the markets. It is served in a deposit cup, refunded when you return it, and it is also what raises the question of driving home. Stalls generally offer an alcohol-free version based on hot apple juice.
Christmas beer, a brewing tradition
Alsace is France's leading brewing region, and Christmas beer is an annual exercise there: an amber beer, stronger and maltier than the regular output, brewed for the season and released in November. It disappears from the shelves in January. It is the least promoted product on the tourist markets and the easiest to find in the grocers and winstubs of the same villages.
Frequently asked questions
What is a bredele?
A small Alsatian Christmas biscuit. It is not one recipe but a family: butterbredele with butter, schwowebredele with almonds and cinnamon, anisbredele with aniseed, piped spritzbredele, and leckerli with honey and spices.
When do you eat mannele in Alsace?
On 6 December, Saint Nicholas' day. This small milk-bread figure is baked only around that date, and it belongs to Saint Nicholas rather than to Christmas.
Where do you find the best Alsatian gingerbread?
At Gertwiller, the Alsatian capital of gingerbread, which counted nine factories around 1900 and where the Fortwenger house has produced since 1768. You will find it at every Christmas market in the region, but the historic production is concentrated there.
Is Alsatian mulled wine red or white?
Often white, unlike most regions. The white version gives a sharper drink. Both coexist on the markets, and an alcohol-free hot apple juice version is generally available.
What should you bring home from an Alsatian Christmas market?
Berawecka, which keeps for several weeks, and gingerbread, which travels well. Bredele crumble and the mannele is eaten the same day. As for drinks, Christmas beer disappears from the shelves in January.
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