Regional Products from Leipzig and the Region

On the 250th anniversary of Johann Sebastian Bach's death, confectioner René Kandler from Leipzig created his own, unmistakable pastry, the Bachtaler.

The Bachtaler consists of a chocolate casing filled with ganache, a harmonious combination of fresh cream and butter cream. At the heart of the taler is a coffee bean enclosed in hazelnut shortcrust pastry.

The original Bachtaler is produced exclusively by the confectioners of Café Kandler. They also created the delicious Backtorten, tarts filled with a light mocha coffee cream. Served with a hot chocolate or Bach coffee, specially developed for the Bach City of Leipzig - the perfect treat.

Bach coffee was created in cooperation between GANOS Kaffee-Kontor & Rösterei AG and Café Kandler. It is a stomach-friendly, low-acid and yet very aromatic coffee.

"Flower is to rose, what beer is to Gose!" The beer speciality is a top-fermented, slightly bitter wheat beer. It is made with the addition of table salt and coriander and a high proportion of biological lactic acid. It derives its name from its place of origin, the old imperial city of Goslar, where the drink was said to have quenched Emperor Otto's thirst back in the year 1000.

In the Middle Ages, the "Goslar beer" spread to Anhalt. Since 1738, thanks to the recommendation of the "Old Dessauer", it has found its new home in Leipzig.

Around 1900, Gose was the most consumed beer in the trade fair city. The main supplier of Gose was the Ritterguts-Gosenbrauerei in Döllnitz from 1824.

From 1966, there was no more Gose. It was only in 1986 that the revival began, when Lothar Goldhahn reopened the old Gosenschenke "Ohne Bedenken". Today, the original Ritterguts-Gose is available in over 100 restaurants. Since 2000, Leipzig Gose has been brewed and served in the Bayerische Bahnhof. Gose can also be mixed with Allasch, syrup and cherry liqueur. Well then: GOSEANNA!

The Allasch owes its name to its place of origin, a Livonian estate near Riga in Latvia. In 1830, traders probably brought the recipe for the Allasch from its place of origin, via Mecklenburg to Saxony. Here, Allasch enjoys great popularity and has been produced since 1926 in the oldest Leipzig brandy and liqueur factory, which was founded in 1923 - the Wilhelm Horn Company. It bears the name "Echter Leipziger Allasch", or Genuine Leipzig Allasch.

Allasch is a caraway aquavit made using caraway distillate, which is characterised by a high alcohol content (about 38% vol.), a strong caraway flavour and an abundant addition of sugar.

The liqueur is served ice-cold and is often consumed to aid digestion after a meal. Many also drink it together with the Leipzig beer speciality Gose, known as the "Gose Umbrella".

Leipzig's most famous speciality is "Leipziger Allerlei", a vegetable dish that is also served as a side dish. In the 19th and 20th century it gained a lot of recognition. Around 1900, the dish was exclusively called "Allerlei". It got its origin name, "Leipziger", when it was included in various cookbooks. Legend has it that the dish was to protect the wealthy citizens of Leipzig after the Napoleonic wars from tax collectors. By serving tax collectors "just" a vegetable dish, residents wanted to make them believe that there was very little money in the households.

Today you can find "Leipziger Allerlei" throughout German supermarkets in the frozen food section. According to traditional recipes, however, this includes not only young vegetables such as carrots, kohlrabi, asparagus as well as cauliflower, but also morels, crab tails and bread dumplings. The original "Leipziger Allerlei" is served in June, when the asparagus season begins, the season for crayfish is over and when the vegetables have just been freshly harvested.

A special treat is the Leipziger Lerche, which in the 18th/19th century first made its appearance on the international menu. As the name suggests, real skylarks were originally part of the dish. An estimated 1.5 million of these songbirds were caught annually in the Leipzig floodplains, baked with herbs and eggs and served with sauerkraut or bacon by the "lark women" in the Salzgässchen.

In August 1860, there was a terrible hailstorm. Thousands of songbirds perished in Leipzig's streets. This was followed by civil protests, which led to the Saxon King banning the hunt for larks in 1876. Resourceful bakers immediately found a substitute by making a treat out of oven-fresh short crust pastry, almonds, nuts and strawberry jam or marzipan.

The shortcrust pastry is reminiscent of a bird's skin. The two cross-shaped shortcrust pastry strips symbolise the original thread with which the stuffed animal was held together. To this day, the Leipziger Lerche is made by hand following seven different steps and is more popular than ever before.

Salzburg locals have their Mozartkugel, the residents of Pulsnitz their well-known gingerbread and the Leipzig residents have the Leipzig Linden-Taler. It celebrates the origin of the name Leipzig. The name comes from the Slavic word Lipsk, which means linden. Lipsk is the place by the Linden and Leipzig is the Linden City.

The idea of creating a Leipzig Linden-Taler came from the managing director of Pfeffi plus e.K., Wilfried Opitz. 

The treats are an entirely fair trade product. For example, the cocoa beans for the handmade chocolate talers come directly from the farmer in Colombia and the cane sugar from fair trade cultivation in Paraguay. The lime blossom honey-cream truffle filling makes the 25 g delicacies probably the largest chocolates in the world.

But the Leipzig Linden-Taler is more than just a piece of chocolate. A 20-page brochure in German and English included with the taler makes this the perfect souvenir, shining with attractive images of Leipzig and surprising facts on the city's history. 

It is remarkable: almost everyone knows of the coffee Saxons and the legendary "Blümchenkaffee". But who actually has any idea about the "cake" Saxons?

Hardly anyone seems to know that the Saxons are the largest cake inventors in Germany. 300 years ago, Saxon confectioners were constantly creating new delicious pastries. One of these creations is the Leipziger Räbchen, which Goethe greatly enjoyed during his time in Leipzig.

Leipziger Räbchen is a classic dessert of traditional Saxon cuisine, which has its origins in Leipzig. This speciality consists of prunes filled with marzipan, which are baked in an egg batter. to finish them off, these round doughnuts are rolled in cinnamon sugar and served while hot. With a little custard, this dessert's delicious taste is complete.

Fruit-growers in the region between the cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz have always benefited from the mild climate, regular rainfall and fertile soil. The fruit-growing tradition here goes back to the 12th century when nuns and monks from the Cistercian Order planted gardens in the cloisters to grow produce for their own needs and cultivated the first fruit trees and bushes as well as vegetables and medicinal plants. Since 1991, the  Obstland Dürrweitzschen AG  has been continuing 800 years of fruit-growing tradition on around 4,000 acres of land. The "Sachsenobst" brand stands for top quality fruits, juices and fruit wines made from local produce. As a member of the Obstland Group, Sachsenobst is listed as one of the  most advanced fruit producers in Germany and is committed to sustainable fruit-growing in Central Saxony.

In September, the carp season begins all over Saxony and particularly in the village of Wermsdorf. Until the end of November, locals and visitors alike can watch the action at a total of 27 fishponds at the Wermsdorf fish farm. Its history goes back 500 years. At the beginning of the 16th century, influential feudal lords had dams and artifical lakes made. They are not as deep as natural lakes. Furthermore, the water can be emptied out. Since then, Wermsdorf has been synonymous with fish farming . The Wermsdorfer Fisch GmbH company has been farming almost 1000 acres of water here since 1992. Around 200 tons of fresh-water fish are caught in the lakes every year. In addition to mirror, scale, grass and silver carp, other fish such as  sturgeon, pike, catfish and pikeperch are also native to the area. They are sold locally as fresh or smoked fish or frozen and supplied to traders and supermarkets across Germany. Alongside the fish specialities, the company's caviar from sturgeon eggs has also become well-loved nationwide since 2012. For anyone who would like to try these delicacies or watch the traditional emptying of the fish ponds, we recommend visiting the annual "Horstseefischen" festival.

The goose farm Gänsezucht Eskildsen in Wermsdorf is one of the most recognised farms of its kind internationally and even exports geese for breeding to Canada and Australia. As many as 19,000 geese for breeding and fattening live on the free-range farm in Wermsdorf. Each year, around 200,000 baby geese are hatched. They are known as goslings. Christmas is traditionally the busiest time of year for this highly respected business. At the Wermsdorfer Gänsemarkt, around 15,000 geese are sold in the run-up to Christmas, between 1 November to 22 December. The birds weigh several kilos and have firm meat, very little fat and a full flavour due to being kept outside. 

The Chocolaterie Olav Praetsch was founded in 2004, has been based in Wermsdorf since 2012 and offers everything chocolate lovers dream of. From milk chocolate to chocolate with nougat, pistachios or marzipan as well as exotic chocolates with fruit centres and poppy-seed coatings – the possibilities are unlimited. The chocolatier once even gave liver pâté a finishing touch with chocolate and transformed it into a delicacy. Olav Praetsch sourches the raw chocolate for his unusual creations from one of the world's best chocolate-makers in the French Rhône valley. He avoids using preservatives, antistaling agents or any added fats.