Biber
Fly to St. Gallen
An almond-filled gingerbread, stamped with a bear or the town’s arms: a treasure already stamped.
The Biber is a flat gingerbread from eastern Switzerland, brown and glossy, hiding a white heart of almonds. On top, a picture moulded in relief: a rearing bear, the town’s towers, a coat of arms. In St Gallen it has been eaten since the 15th century, when the archives already name it, as Bimenzelten.
The town’s oldest recipes sit in handwritten notebooks kept by well-to-do families from the 17th century on, now held in the cantonal library. There were big ones and small ones, thick ones, brown ones, white ones, filled ones, and even some for children. First the sugar, which arrived in loaves, was crushed, then honey and sugar were gently melted in a brass pan. Next came the spices, each household with its own blend: pepper, ginger, mace, cardamom, clove, aniseed, cinnamon and lemon, and a white flour, the finest. The dough, beaten and rolled out, was pressed into a hollowed wooden mould, then turned out with a sharp tap. For the filled version, a layer of ground almonds was spread and sealed with a lid of dough. A last stroke of the brush with rosewater or cinnamon water made it shine.
Nobody knows whether the monks of the abbey baked it: nothing proves it. The women’s convents, though, had their reputation. The St Gallen history museum keeps sumptuous moulds, engraved with the arms of two families for weddings.
Sources: panissimo, “Zur Geschichte des St. Galler Bibers”.
Finding the chest
Its chest appears near St. Gallen once you have discovered all its sites on the map.
Sites discovered: 0 of 8
Every site of St. Gallen is discovered: the chest is waiting for you near the town.
