Sweet Treats - Composting at Christmas

12 Days of HOTBIN Composting

For anyone with a sweet tooth, Christmas is the best time of year. Whether it’s pudding on Christmas day, a slice of cake or mince pies with a cup of tea - it doesn’t stop there!

Would you like a sweet? How about a chocolate?

Many sweet traditions originate from Germany including Candy Canes and Stöllen and their origins are very interesting.

Candy Canes

Originating over 300 years ago Candy Canes were produced in 1670 when a choir master asked a local candy maker for some sweet sticks to give to children during Christmas Eve service to keep them occupied. In order to justify giving them candy he asked for a crook to be added to the stick to remind the children of the shepherds who visited the baby Jesus.

Stöllen

Today Stöllen is a fruitcake containing dried fruit, nuts, spices and often marzipan. However as butter was not allowed due the fasting season of advent, early Christmas Stöllen was very different comprising of only flour, yeast, oil and water - making the cake, well, tasteless.

Taste of Italy

Originating from Italy both Panettone & Pandoro are sweet breads rather than cakes,  although just as tasty as each other! Panettone is derived from the Italian word “panetto” meaning a small loaf cake, with the “-one” suffix changing the meaning to “large cake”. Pandoro on the other hand means “Golden Bread” and was consumed solely by the wealthy; due to its rich ingredients of eggs, butter and sugar or honey.

Chocolate Coins

Chocolate Coins are thought to be representative of the money Saint Nicholas gave to the poor children of Myra. Legend states that one night he threw money down a chimney and it landed in some stockings that a young girl had hung out to dry, coincidentally this story is also where Christmas stockings come from!

Now for Composting

There are many other cakes/sweets associated with Christmas, including yule logs, Lebkuchen, selection boxes and mince pies. If you don’t manage to finish them all off then remember to remove all wrappers, break them up and then compost them.

HOTBIN loves a sweet treat every now and then!