When do gingerbread, speculoos and the like taste best?

A food technologist reveals the perfect time

24-Sep-2024

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Every year the discussion starts again. By September at the latest, they are on the supermarket shelves. Vanilla crescents, dominoes and other typical Christmas cookies. And while some people are upset that you can buy these treats in late summer, others swear that they taste better at any time of the year. But is that true? We'll put an end to this argument once and for all.

Nele Timpe (25) comes from near Osnabrück and has a job that many people are envious of. She spends all day creating recipes, tasting cakes and cookies and wondering how a delicious product could be made even tastier. In addition to her job as a working student at a large food manufacturer, she is studying Food Management and Technology at SRH Fernhochschule. Nele says happily: "I've turned my hobby into a career."

"Everyone should do an apprenticeship after leaving school"
After leaving school, she took a year off to focus on her interior design studies. However, she quickly realized that this was not the right thing for her. "It was too uncreative," says the young woman. So she decided to learn the trade of a pastry chef. She had always liked baking. So why not do the right apprenticeship straight away? A decision she has never regretted: "Actually, everyone should do an apprenticeship first after leaving school. You learn an incredible amount. After school, you often have no idea what you actually like or what you want to do. Apprenticeships give you a direct link to working life and you get to know people who have been with you for decades in some cases. You can interact with them in a completely different way than with fellow students."

But Nele wanted to get even more out of her trade. She began studying food management and technology at SRH Fernhochschule - The Mobile University while she was still training and found a job as a working student shortly afterwards. She now works 20 hours a week at the food company and develops new snacks while completing her studies at the same time. She is delighted: "This is the absolute best case scenario for me. It's a great way to combine both worlds."

Ideas for Christmas cookies are in full swing
Right now, her job is all about Christmas cookies. "I've just developed a recipe for a Christmas cheesecake," she says. When it comes to traditional cookies, she reveals that gingerbread and speculoos are among the Germans' favorites. These are already produced in summer and hit the shelves at the end of August or in September at the latest. Which brings us back to the initial question. When exactly is the best time to buy and eat Christmas cookies?

Freshness, taste, texture: when do Christmas cookies really taste best?
Nele laughs: "For many people, buying these things now is an absolute no-go. We food technologists, on the other hand, are very happy about it. We stock up on lots of Christmas cookies straight away. We need them for our test kitchen." However, there is also the faction that firmly claims that speculoos and the like taste best in September. Is that really the case? The food technologist has a clear answer to this: "As long as the packaging is closed, the taste won't change at all over the next few months. Only if you leave it in the cupboard for a year can the flavor no longer be quite as intense." In terms of consistency and freshness, there are therefore no significant changes either, at least from a food technology perspective, which makes it clear:

Christmas is a feeling and has little to do with taste
When exactly Christmas cookies taste best is a purely ideological question. If you can get over the fact that there's no jingle bells on the radio and no snow, hearts, stars and pretzels taste just as good in September as they do in January. And there have even been Christmas evenings in Germany with 24 degrees and sunshine. In this case, speculoos are perfect. No chocolate melts.

Sweets every day - how do you stay slim?
But we have one final question. Although Nele eats cakes, desserts and cookies all day long, she is as slim as a rail. How is that possible? When asked about this, she laughs: "I love eating sweets, but sometimes I skip a meal because of this. Lunch at work usually consists of cake and other sweet stuff. But I also work with colleagues who have been here for 20 years and who still don't like sweets too much. Fortunately, we also move around a lot. We don't have office jobs."

In any case, the budding food technologist is happy about the pleasant working hours. "I have flexitime, but I still start early. I start at 7 a.m. at the latest, it's an old confectioner's disease," she smiles.

In any case, we are looking forward to the many delicious things that Nele develops and that we will hopefully be able to try soon. No matter what time of year.

Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.

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