Once summer ends, in a city and country without Thanksgiving or much in the way of Halloween celebrations, there's really nothing to stop the long, slow slide towards Christmas, a holiday to which my attention turns today in the form of Kletzenbrot, a moist, dark-brown, spiced and sweet bread studded with myriad dried fruits and nuts -- especially dried pears, hence the name, as Kletze means dried pear. The Kletzenbrot is one of the oldest culinary symbols of the Christmas holiday across Austria and southern Germany, with the practice of drying pears (of which there are plenty in the Mostviertel, the fruit-growing part of the state of Lower Austria) dating back to the Middle Ages. Kletzenbrot itself began life rather simply as a form of rye bread containing dried pears and prunes made from Zwetschgen, prune plums grown in the Czech Republic and elsewhere. It was the fruit that gave the bread its sweetness at a time when both sugar and honey were hard to come by.
With the growth in international trade, Kletzenbrot became more elaborate, one might say. Dried figs and raisins entered the mix, as did different kinds of nuts (almonds are very en vogue, though hazelnuts are grown closer to home), spices, candied cherries, and lemon peel -- and here we see the similarities between Germanic Kletzenbrot and the English Christmas pudding or Christmas cake. Another similarity is this. Traditionally, the Kletzenbrot was prepared relatively early in the Christmas season around Andreastag, November 30, when the fruits were brought in from the fields and left to dry. The bread was often backed on Thomastag, December 21, as there was some myth about letting bread-baking ovens stand empty between then and the festival of Epiphany. One final similarity with Christmas cake. Though the example picture above is of an unadorned Kletzenbrot, celebratory examples are often decorated with circles or stars, crosses or hearts, or more obvious religious symbols like the Maltese cross, cut out of icing or marzipan. It is Christmas -- or will be -- after all.
