The "heart" of Munich Octoberfest

Sometimes one stops to ask questions when things seem to be normal. But when one has visitors asking questions, then it brings different perspective. When I was showing a couple of first-time-visiting colleagues Octoberfest around, she asked, "where did the hearts come from?" I never thought to ask this question, therefore neither have I the answer. As a foreigner, I thought my Munich colleague who has been almost the company tour guide of Octoberfest should know about this. However disappointedly, he also doesn't know the background of this special thing. The only thing he mentioned is that, one can keep this gingerbread heart for a long long time, like, more than 10 years. (when one doesn't eat it) He meant that they are still in the original shape after 10 years.

 Of course it had aroused my curiosity. Where does this widespread and famous heart shape gingerbread come from. The thing about it is not only the heart shape, but also the words written on that. It could be, "you are my princess", "you are my hero".. and many other variants. So, could it be that the inventor had used this to express his or her love to the beloved ones?

After some digging, there's not too much to be found. Most of people talk about the history of gingerbread and how long in the history it can be traced back. The one story that most of the experts agreed, is that Gustav Teschernich,  the owner of one bakeries in Munich, had invented the gingerbread heart. He was selling heart shapes chocolate already in 1950s. But the product was not optimal, because it melts when the weather is warm. So he and his wife came up this idea to make a heart shape gingerbread. Nowadays the product has become a hot seller. According to the report from here, a company produces 40 thousands of gingerbread a day with the decorations made purely by hands. It's a pity that Gustave Teschenich didn't leave too much trace about how much fortune this invention had mad for his family. 

For one who has visited Octoberfest or interested in making one to express his or her feelings to the beloved ones, below is the recipe: 

Ingredients: 

• 200g butter
• 550g honey
• 250g suger
• a pinch of of gingerbread herbs
• 30g cocoa powder
• 120g flour
• a pinch of backing powder
• 2 eggs
• 1 pinch salt

Making the dough:

First slowly heat up butter, sugar, honey, gingerbread herbs and cocoa in one pot. When everything is melted and smooth, then take off the pot from the herd and cool it. Then make the dough with backing powder with a little bit salt, eggs and neat it. Cover the dough and let the dough rise in room temperature for half to one day.

Backing:
Lay the backing paper in the tray. Cut a heart shape out from a paper. Roll the dough out and cut out heart shapes by the heart shape paper. Bake them at 200 degree Celsius for 12 - 15 minutes.

Decorations

Ingredients:

• chocolate icing
• around 150g powder sugar
• 1 fresh egg white
• food coloring