Germans are people, but they're different. Just as often as I observe similarities between Germans and myself -- one clear example is we're all members of the human race -- I am noticing more and more differences. Such disparities are natural among varying cultures, but I just automatically assumed that Germans -- forefathers to many of us Americans, myself included -- would be more like... me.
In particular and quite shockingly, Germans don't have the same fondness for chocolate chips as that exhibited in the USA.
We Americans adore chocolate chip cookies, and I would venture to say it is the Number One Cookie in the land. Our mother made chocolate chip cookies so often and so well that she had to hide them around the house -- in the freezer, in the closet, and under her bed -- so we and our friends wouldn't gobble them all up in a day. My sisters and I pride ourselves on our own individual versions of her cookie recipe, having entered competitions between us (much to our brother's delight, because he is the taste-tester). Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are a tiny bite of heaven. I'd bake them more... if I could.
However, appalling as it is, chocolate chips are not available in the baking supplies section of German grocery stores. Horror! There are no chocolate chips on any grocery store shelves, anywhere. Don't get me wrong -- it is obvious that the Germanic people very much appreciate Schokolade. They are masters at making and using fine chocolate themselves. There are chocolate Getränke, chocolate bars, chocolate decorations, chocolate sprinkles, chocolate letters, chocolate bits, chocolate candies, many kinds of chocolate ice creams, chocolate bugs and chocolate frogs.
That list is endless, but it doesn't include little hardened droplets of semi-sweet chocolate in a bag. And chocolate chip cookies don't look right with chocolate "bits" in them.
Because of this, I came up with the ingenious idea a few months ago of importing chocolate chips to Germany. Why not? They obviously need the rich morsels badly here! Has no one ever thought of this before? What a great way to strike it rich, by supplying chocolate chip goodness to the poor people of Germany who suffer daily without this commodity.
Getting a second opinion from my landlady, who is also a Konditorin / master cake baker, my hopes for fame, fortune, and readily-available chocolate chips were dashed sofort. When I told her my idea, she simply shook her head and said "nein." She didn't explain; she just said no.
You see, Germans don't bake with chocolate chips, so there is no point in bringing them over. One would have to have a specialty item, like chocolate chip cookies, in order to need bagfuls, and they just don't make chocolate chip anything here, including cookies. Germans have so many other favorite delicious chocolate cakes, tortes, cookies, ice creams and desserts that chocolate chips are not a necessity. They simply melt down Zartbitter Schokolade or blend some Kakao into their baking. Perhaps it is an insult to Germans -- who spawn from over 1,000 years of culture -- to suggest they need something American to improve their wonderful chocolate creations.
Okay, if you're desperate, you can find something to put in your cookies. One German recipe I found for Schokoladenkekse called for adding "grob gehackte Zartbitter-Schokolade oder Schokotropfen."
Hacked-off pieces of a chocolate bar and chocolate "drops" just aren't the same and don't cut the Senf. As we cooks and bakers know, the appearance of our artistic creations is just as important as the taste. But when in Römerberg... do as the Römer do. And I have, often smashing a candy bar with a hammer or twisting it in my hands and aggressively breaking it apart to fill my cookies, because chocolate chunks are a necessity.
So then, how does one secure chocolate chips in Germany? The military bases are closing up one by one, and that would have been a good option, if one is in the military (I am not).
Once my very kind oldest sister sent me a big box full of chocolate and butterscotch chips -- with much more of the former -- so I could bake before Christmastime. It cost her more to send the box than the morsels were worth. My very kind little sister sent me a HUGE bag of chocolate chips as repayment sending her Lindt Williams bars (try them and you'll know why she paid such a price). As you might guess, chocolate chips are not light so shipping them overseas is teuer.
Since my first years here, I've learned to import as many bags of chocolate chips that will fit in my suitcase when going to the USA, but my supplies run out as soon as I make a couple batches and share them with friends and colleagues. Besides, if I'm hauling sets of horseshoes (another frighteningly absent item and the subject of another blog post), I can't add too much extra weight.
After reading all this, if you're interested in entering into the import/export business, I'd still like to work on getting real chocolate chips to Germany. At least one person over here will be buying them.
Wörterbuch / Dictionary
(das) Getränk, (die) Getränke - drink, drinks
(die) grob gehackte Zartbitter-Schokolade oder Schokotropfen - coarsely chopped dark chocolate or chocolate chips
(der) Kakao - cocoa
(der) Konditor, (die) Konditorin - cake maker
nein - no
(der) Keks - cookie
(die) Schokoladenkekse - chocolate (chip) cookies
(der) Senf - mustard
sofort - immediately
(die) Römer - the Romans
teuer - expensive
(die) Zartbitter Schokolade - dark chocolate
