Aachener Printen: read the word “hard” before you buy

By Porter Lang

Start with a warning that is also the point. Printen are meant to be hard. Or soft. Or covered in chocolate. Before you decide which one you are looking at, you need to know the three words that matter on the box, and what the protected name does and does not tell you.

What they are

The German Wikipedia article on Aachener Printen calls them a special kind of brown Lebkuchen, baked in Aachen since about 1820. The English article agrees and says they contain no fats such as butter, nuts or almond flour. Both articles give the dough as flour, water and sweeteners, with potash as the main raising agent. Hartshorn salt was used originally. The sweeteners are brown sugar, rock-candy crumbs and beet syrup, or honey. The spice list in both is cinnamon, aniseed, cloves, cardamom, coriander, allspice and ginger, with candied orange and lemon peel, and each maker keeps its blend private. We therefore cannot tell you what is in any one box. We can tell you what the articles say the family contains.

The German article traces the word “Printe” to the English “print” and the Dutch “prent”, meaning a pressing tool or an impressed image. The reason is the mould. Early Printen were pressed into carved wooden moulds, the English article says, and showed saints and other figures. The German article adds that French and then Prussian soldiers appeared as motifs in the early nineteenth century.

Why they went flat

Both articles tie the shift to sugar. According to the German article, the Continental Blockade of 1806 to 1814 made cane sugar and honey dear, so bakers turned to local beet sugar and syrup. Around 1820 they produced a stable, dark, fat-free pastry, the Kräuterprinte. Beet syrup makes a coarser, tougher dough. So the early Printen were hard, and the dough was firm enough to be cut into flat, slender pieces and baked on trays. The articles call these Schnittprinten, and they were easy to make in numbers and to send away. That is why most mould-shaped figures disappeared, with a few exceptions.

Later changes, as both articles describe them:

The 1830s: falling sugar prices allowed sugar glazes, which gave Prinzessprinten.
The 1850s: rock-candy crumbs gave the dough a lighter texture.
From the 1860s: more honey went back in, which made soft Printen possible, and chocolate-coated ones appeared.
The 1950s: the English article lists juicy chocolate and nut variants as additions.

Hard, soft, chocolate

This is the reading guide. The German article names three basic types: Kräuter-, Prinzess- and Schokoladenprinten. It says that a higher honey content made the dough more pliable, which gave the Weichprinte, the soft one. The English article says the Printen were sold as hard or soft, mostly broken, and only rarely as picture Printen. It credits Henry Lambertz with the first chocolate coating in the 1860s and says he was named supplier to the Belgian, Dutch and Prussian royal houses around 1870. The German article says the same about the chocolate and the court supplier title.

So, on a label: Kräuter means the plain herb type. Prinz or Prinzess means a sugar glaze. Schokolade means the coating. Hart or Weich says which texture to expect. Those are our readings of the terms the two articles use, not a quote from any maker.

The protected name

Aachener Printen is a protected geographical indication in the European Union. The EU’s eAmbrosia register shows it as registered on 24 January 1997 (Official Journal L 22, 24 January 1997). We do not set out the rules of the name here. If a box carries it, ask the maker what it covers.

What the name does not do, as far as we can tell from the sources, is rank one maker over another. It points at a place and a recipe. It does not tell you whether a box is hard or soft.

A town of bakers

The English article adds that Printen were created partly for pilgrims visiting Aachen Cathedral, and that the town has a bronze “Printen Girl” sculpture from 1989.

Dates in order

15th century: moulded bread arrives in Aachen with immigrant metalworkers, according to Wikipedia.
1806 to 1814: the blockade; beet syrup replaces cane sugar and honey, according to German Wikipedia.
About 1820: the Kräuterprinte, according to German Wikipedia.
1860s: chocolate coating, according to German Wikipedia.
1989: the Printen Girl sculpture, according to English Wikipedia.

What kind of sources these are

Two Wikipedia articles, one in German and one in English, that overlap heavily. The Aachen tourism page we also read does not mention Printen. The registration date comes from the EU eAmbrosia register.

Questions a buyer would ask

Is a hard Printe stale? On our reading of the articles, no: hard was the original texture. Do they contain butter? Both articles say no fats. Which is best? We cannot say, and the sources do not rank them.

What we left out

Calorie figures, prices, shelf life, and any claim about the taste of a named maker.

Quick answers

What are Aachener Printen? According to German Wikipedia, a special kind of brown Lebkuchen baked in Aachen since about 1820, made without fats.

Why are some Printen hard? German Wikipedia says beet syrup made the dough coarser and tougher, so early Printen were hard. More honey later made soft ones.

When was the name registered? The EU eAmbrosia register gives 24 January 1997.

Roam first. Shop later.

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