Dispatches From a German Grocery Store

I love going to grocery stores. And I'm willing to bet money a lot of you do, too. No?  There's something so calming about grocery shopping. All those nice parallel lines, the reliable stacks of products, the hum of the refrigerated section, the loamy scent in the produce aisle. I heft sacks of rice in my hand, feel the bumpy rinds of cool lemons, run my index finger along smooth jars of honey. Whenever I'm feeling out of sorts, a stroll through the grocery store sets me right again.

After a long time out of German grocery stores, I am having such a good time rediscovering what's in them. There are enormous amount of dairy products, lots of whole-grain flours, very cheap, delicious honey and the most beautiful Savoy cabbages you ever did see. There are also more "ethnic" products than there used to be, like Chinese sauces and Yugoslavian pepper pastes; and the produce sections, while piddling in size compared to the grotesquerie of a Whole Foods, now sport lemon grass and cilantro along with the standard offerings of local potatoes, leeks and turnips.

I don't know about you, but when I travel I love spending an afternoon in a grocery store, looking at local cheese that will never leave the zip code, strange jams, interesting vegetables and more. You can learn a lot about a place from its grocery stores; can see the importance of cured meats, say, in one culture, or the lack of green vegetables in another. I buy gifts for people back home there, figuring a rosehip jam or an exotic nut oil is so much better than a standard post card. It's something tangible you can eat and feel transported by, something delicious you can't get back home, something special, best of all.

I thought you might like to see some of my favorite things from my local store here. Next time you're in town, stock up.

Pflaumenmus is German plum butter and it is glorious. Dark and sticky and lightly spiced with cinnamon, German bakeries pipe this stuff into doughnuts and citizens put it on toast for breakfast. I've heard it on good authority that it tastes especially delicious spread over fresh cheese on bread. For some reason, Pflaumenmus is almost always sold in tins, which makes for lovely presents.

Strudel. Oh, strudel. Those Austro-Hungarians, man, they had good ideas. Light, delicate dough, so thin you can read newspaper through it, stuffed with spiced apples and brushed with butter, browned in the oven, served with cream... Is your stomach growling yet? I am nowhere near knowing how to make my own strudel dough, so I loved finding this premade dough in the refrigerated section. Plus, isn't the type on the package worth buying it alone? This stuff is from Bavaria, which will probably make me the laughingstock of any Austrians reading the blog, but I've also seen Austrian strudel dough at a fancy department store here and I'm buying that next. Last night, I filled and baked a sheet of this dough with mashed potatoes seasoned with caraway, then mixed with sauteed leeks, onions and ham, and almost two cups of quark. Sliced and served with a salad, oh ho, it was good.

Germans love tea. They love tea. Especially herbal tea. In my grocery store, there are herbal teas available for almost every kind of ailment or situation known to man. From standard offerings like fennel and rosehip to more complicated stuff like "Men's Tea" or "Tea for the Common Cold" or even a tea called "Hot Love" (ahem), you could spend hours in the tea aisle and be convinced to stop believing in modern medicine. My favorite herbal tea at the moment is this stuff called "Arabian Spice Tea". It's flavored with cardamom and plums, among other things, and tastes especially wonderful with a spoonful of honey melted into it. No idea if it does anything good for your health, but it warms my soul and that seems plenty.

We all know Zwieback, right? Just little squares of crispy bread, best eaten when afflicted with a stomach flu. Here in Germany, though, the birthplace of the Zwieback, some evil genius has gone and done it: created what is possibly the best teatime snack ever made: the chocolate-covered Zwieback. Covered in bittersweet chocolate, Schoko-Zwieback is addictive. It's crunchy as all get out, barely sweet and so satisfying. I am a little bit obsessed. You will be, too.

Another import from Austria is Styrian pumpkinseed oil. Produced exclusively in Styria, a region of Austria, pumpkinseed oil looks like dark green ink and tastes like a pumpkinseed on steroids. I like drizzling it on pureed pumpkin soup or dressing greens for salad with it (best with a delicate white wine vinegar). It's powerful stuff and comes in all kinds of beautiful little jugs and bottles. Way, way better than a miniature replica of the Brandenburg Gate.

And finally, the best ready-made dessert you'll ever buy. Bauer, a privately-owned dairy, makes this very simple, very plain chocolate pudding. Made only with milk and no cream and with 72% cacao, it's improbably light and yet packs a serious chocolate punch. It's almost black and silky on the spoon. Best of all: the ingredient label. No preservatives, no strange color numbers. Just milk, sugar, cacao, and starch. Imagine eating a mashed pototo strudel for dinner and then still finding room for dessert? This is the only thing that will fit.

Comments

[Victoria]

What a simply delicious post.

The replies are great too. Imagine all of us who love to grocery shop.

I can never go to a new city without planning a visit to a local grocery store to see what treasures lay in wait.

[my spatula]

soooo fun. i love grocery stores too, especially when traveling far.

[Cookreadlive.blogspot.com]

This is one of my favorite things to do while traveling. I even love the junk food aisles! Salt and vinegar chips have not been readily available in Switzerland for very long...
But I have also managed to lug home some special goats cheese from Paris for my father, that you can get from any Coop. It's a small world after all.

[Julie]

omg I LOVE pflaumenmus. I am telling people about this all the time, I must have some on my toast every morning.

I want to ask what grocery store you are going to though...the Rewe and Kaisers around me don't have some of the stuff you highlight, like that pudding which I absolutely must have.

But I have to mostly agree with Ernie above...I mostly spend my time in German grocery stores being quite frustrated. Though on my last trip back to the states I found my trips to the groceries stores there quite frustrating as well.

[mel p]

I have lived in Germany for quite a while now (I'm an Aussie), and I've never managed to like Pflaumenmus, I'm afraid. I have been wanting to get my hands on some of that Bauer schoko-pudding for a while now, but my closest supermarket doesn't have it; good to know that I need to hunt harder! But really, I wanted to comment on Jill's comment: kürbiskernöl over ice-cream: what the WHAT? Can't get my head around that one.

[Nora]

@Sasa, Reuben and Luisa

I am sorry to correct yoou but Powidl is not Pflaumenmus. It is much darker and tastes completely different because it is made of dried plums and uses no sugar. My Oma used to make it herself, very tasty but now she is too old for that kind of stuff. :-) Try and mix that original Powidl with a shot of STROH-Rum and use it then (for baking or filling Powidltascherl)-it makes Powidl even better...

Luisa, I am glad to hear you have already settled in Berlin. But then it was your home for a long time before... I just start to feel at home in Bremen after having moved here from Vienna but the weather here is really terrible. Similar to that in the UK. Enjoy baking and eating in your new kitchen!

Österreichische Grüße
Nora

[Lena]

Hi,

I'm german and I love the tea above. One of my favourites at the moment :).
Zwieback with chocolate is good, but even better is the one with coconut on it. Mmmh makes me want to eat it, when I think about it.
If I'm in another country I can't pass by any supermarket. It's a wonderland there. Just remembering Sainsbury's and Tesco in Scotland last year...

[Flotch]

I think going grocery shopping is one of the best ways to experience the food culture of a place. I was laughed at and completely embarrassed by colleagues on a business trip to Frankfurt because I went sausage shopping but when I shared the Blutwurst with them back at home, they knew they had made a mistake not accompanying me.

[Rose-Anne]

What a delightful post! I've never made much of an effort to visit grocery stores while traveling, but now I think I shall. Yes, that is an excellent idea.

I love your dispatches from Germany, Luisa. This internet thing is pretty awesome, huh?

[Julie]

This is great but fresh veggie posts would have been better...get down to Munich and visit the Vikutalienmarkt.

[Honeybee]

I adore grocery shopping, too! At home but especially abroad when there are so many things to discover! It only get's a little tricky when you don't speak the language - as I found out when I went to Spain in order to learn the language. Grocery shopping took me ages at first as I took so long trying to figure out what was what. It was only after a few weeks that I realised that the parmesan I bought tasted funny because it wasn't cheese at all but some strange lookalike product...

[Larin]

There were traveling markets in Belgium that was in town the same day I was and the food was amazing. Fish, meat, candy, dried goods, speciality can goods, clothing, everything in caravans. The surrounding area residents came in, shopped, did lunch and then bundled themselves home. It was winter and I will never forget the wonders of winter produce and the price of endive, pennies!!!!

To shop in a grocery store is know the people and the cooking customs of the area. Also, you can get some of the best take home gifts there.

[Melanie]

I'm going to the grocery on my way to work in the morning and picking up that plum butter! And then I'll head over to the bakery for my favorite broetchen and be a happy camper!

I've tried the lard you have pictured a few times and the fumes always give me a headache. Am I heating it too much? I hadn't cooked with lard before I moved to Germany, so I'm unsure if I am doing something wrong or if my body just really doesn't like that lard. Do you use it exclusively for frying or would it be good in things like pie crust?

[Lizounette]

What a fun adventure! Thank you for sharing your treats. As someone who has never been to Germany, this post was such a treasure.

[Marion]

Hi, I'm German and I live in Berlin too. I like Pflaumenmus and Zwieback too. (I also like the one with coconut best.)
I bought that tea some time ago as well. I liked the taste, but after a while I found the taste a bit too strong.
I will try to find the Schokocreme on my next shopping trip :).

[Paige Orloff]

Forget coffee. You're taking me grocery shopping. I've never had that plum butter, but when I was last in Berlin, I got super addicted to a Leysieffer plum preserve that seems, in memory, quite similar. I went bananas trying to import the stuff, and finally gave up and started making my own. I may have to bring an extra suitcase with me this time...

[Christine]

Ah, yes! One of my favorite "tourist" activities. I remember discovering the cheese department in a Rotterdam supermarket! it was as if a choir of angles suddenly burst into chorus ;-)

[ahmet c. toker]

hi! i happen to live in the same neigbourhood as our brilliant writer. unfortunately, my trips to the grocery store are not this entertaining. may i ask if you went to one of the dozen kaisers in the area? or was it a authentic berlin grocery store?

[Natascha]

I am from Austria and let me tell you this: Vanilla Ice Cream and Pumpkinseed Oil can cause a serious addiction. ... traditionally it works also very well with scrambled eggs. Enjoy!

[Big Jim]

Try the Lowensenf! You won't be sorry (if you like pungent mustard). It is almost wasabi-like.

[zeta]

@ Nora: You are mistaken (or confuse it with plum jam), proper german Pflaumenmus is made with no or very little sugar sugar and it is the same as Powidl.

[The gold digger]

I always love exploring the grocery store in a foreign country. The fun thing we brought back from Germany (in addition to cheese because they don't have cheese in Wisconsin) is mustard in a tube. It was a fun present to give to friends.

[Lisa (dinner party)]

Sigh, I loved this post so much.

[pity]

my husband knows that i ALWAYS need an extra afternoon just for myself, for grocery hunting whenever we are abroad, unfotunately, sometimes I dont lknow what I am buying! I know a german deli here in London, so next time, I am getting that choco Zwieback, thanks a lot for all the info,

cheers from london

[Kristina]

Great post. I always shop in grocery stores when I travel. The hardest part is deciding what to buy and what to leave behind because I usually travel carry-on only. Fortunately, I usually check my bag on the way home, so I can take some things the TSA would not normally allow.

[Angela]

I love checking out new (to me) grocery stores! I take my time, lingering up and down the aisles, looking at everything, and suddenly needing so many things. I've always said that as soon as I step on British soil, a grocery store is going to be one of, if not the, first place I go. Sainsbury's, here I come!

[The Leftoverist]

What a treat to read this post. I love inspecting new grocery stores, too. There are such differences even state to state here--I can't imagine the fun of exploring there.

And funny "grotesquerie" modifier on Whole Paycheck.

[magdalena Kasprzyk - chevriaux]

Hello! I like a lot your blog, I read eat often but did not make any comments.
It is a great pleasure for me to see that there are people who like food from "sauerkraut" countries !
I am Polish and I know German food as well. Both German and Polish people do that plum "butter" the name of which in Polish is "powidla" and which I am going to present on my new-born blog in English. I made it last summer, following a traditional Polish recipe, according to which you have to simmer fruits on a low flame for several hours....
As regards "schmalz" - in Polish it is called "smalec".
"Smalec" is popular, as well, however more and more Polish do not use them in daily cooking... as it is not healthy.
The traditional Polish "smalec" may be prepared, as well, with some meat baked and ground or with apples, onions, so it resembles a bit French "rillettes" and may be used for tartines. It is absolutely delicious...
Kind regards
Magdalena

[Corrie]

I haven't seen Pflaumenmus in a tin before, but I've made my own for a few years now, so I always skip this aisle in the supermarket.

[Darina]

What a lovely post. I absolutely adore grocey stores in different countries. Thanks for sharing.

[Annie Browne]

How fun!!! I love the grocery store, too. I could wander around a good market for hours...thanks for the pics. I've had the Choco-Zwieback crackers and they're to die for! The markets in Paris are wondrous too. ENJOY!!!

[Joana]

Do you have any ideas on the difference between the two kinds of cocoa powder sold in Germany - stark entölt and the schwach entölt. Especially considering David Lebovitz's recent post about Dutch processed vs. the other kind sold in the States? That would be helpful when making American recipes over here in Germany.

[A Mouse Bouche]

I do so love exploring grocery stores outside the country, or even the city. My major gripe about NYC is that although there are so many amazing products available, navigating the aisles of a whole foods or fairway or really anything, is pure hell, inspiring some serious road rage in me and making it impossible to linger pleasurably over a million varieties of relish.

[Tonya @ What's On My Plate]

Great post! I travel a lot and I always have to visit AT LEAST one grocery store. I love seeing the culture differences. I was just in Jamaica and you cannot find cream for your coffee. Why? Because they use condensed milk instead. While I was there I picked up Sorel jam.

[Esther]

I moved from Germany to Sweden in 2002 and your post left me all nostalgic about the foodstuff I miss.
And yes, part of the fun with traveling abroad is definitly the grocery stores.

[Irina]

This post is making me nostalgic for grocery-shopping in Russia! Of course, the products are different, but there is something about the packaging that sets many European groceries apart from American ones. (Well, Russia is not quite Europe, but the food packaging there looks more European than American, at least to me.)

[Petra]

i am german but i live in scotland since eight years. although i absolutely love scotland, its the german food that i miss most, especially the bread, which of course is the best in the world!!

[Astrid]

Oh yes! I LOVE grocery stores too.

Here are some shots I took in a grocery store in South Africa: http://hei-astrid.blogspot.com/2009/03/south-africa-batch-4.html

[Kevin]

Glad to know I am not the only one! I told a friend once that you can tell a lot about place by visiting the local grocery. She thought I was nuts!

[Culinspiration]

Dr. Oetker's 70-something percent chocolate pudding is crazy-good, too. I'll have to look out for Bauer.

[heidi]

How do I miss german food, 43 years in the US and I still miss every thing. This little town here has nothing.

[Julia]

love grocery stores too, especially international ones.

[Živa]

I love to see that there's other people who get as excited about grocery shopping as I do.
I'd just like to add something (yes, you might say it's out of local patriotism :-). Pumpkin seed oil is also produced in most parts of Slovenia, and also Croatia and Hungary (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumpkin_seed_oil).
But Austria knows how to market it effectively.
My tip: for more and even cheaper regional specialities go further to the south: http://www.gea.si/eng/Products/Geaproductrange.asp. ;-)

Re ann: In USA and Canada, you should be able to find pumpkin seed oil importers in places with strong Slovenian communities, like Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Toronto.

[adrian]

hey, i grew up in bad heilbrunn ;-)

[Suzy (Foodie in Berlin)]

Sassa had a link to this post.
I love supermarkets. It's like a character sketch of the country you are in. Whenever I go to a new place, I often visit a supermarket before anything else. They are like Aladdin treasure troves!
I have never tried this plum butter you describe but I will have a look for it on Monday.