Spreewald gherkins (German: Spreewälder Gurken or Spreewaldgurken) are a specialty

pickled cucumber A pickled cucumber – commonly known as a pickle in the United States, Canada and Australia and a gherkin ( ) in Britain, Ireland, South Africa, and New Zealand – is a usually small or miniature cucumber that has been Pickling, pickled in ...

from

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

, which are protected by the EU as a

Protected Geographical Indication Three European Union schemes of geographical indications and Traditional food, traditional specialties, known as protected designation of origin (PDO), protected geographical indication (PGI), and traditional speciality guaranteed (TSG), promote ...

(PGI).

Overview

In the 1870s,

Theodor Fontane Theodor Fontane (; 30 December 1819 – 20 September 1898) was a German novelist and poet, regarded by many as the most important 19th-century German-language Literary realism, realist author. He published the first of his novels, for which he i ...

found that the ''Spreewaldgurke'' stood at the top of the agricultural products in Brandenburg's

Spreewald The Spree Forest or Spreewald (; , , i.e. 'the Swamps') is a large inland delta of the river Spree, and a historical cultural landscape located in the region of (Lower) Lusatia, in the state of Brandenburg, Germany, about 100 km southeas ...

: The secret of the Spreewald gherkins' special taste remained hidden, even to the

satirist This is an incomplete list of writers, cartoonists and others known for involvement in satire – humorous social criticism. They are grouped by era and listed by year of birth. Included is a list of modern satires. Early satirical authors *Aes ...

Fontane. Certainly, the moist soil, rich in

humus In classical soil science, humus is the dark organic matter in soil that is formed by the decomposition of plant and animal matter. It is a kind of soil organic matter. It is rich in nutrients and retains moisture in the soil. Humus is the Lati ...

, and the climate in the Spreewald also contribute to the good growth in the cucumber fields. The actual reason for the taste, which is considered by connoisseurs to be delicate, is found in their processing. While the process of

fermentation Fermentation is a type of anaerobic metabolism which harnesses the redox potential of the reactants to make adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and organic end products. Organic molecules, such as glucose or other sugars, are catabolized and reduce ...

in large barrels formerly took several weeks, gherkins today are ready for sale after only one day of processing—whether for mustard gherkins (''Senfgurke''), gherkins or dill pickles (''Gewürzgurke'') or

s (''Salzgurke''). This enormous time saving is achieved by heating to with the addition of

caustic soda Sodium hydroxide, also known as lye and caustic soda, is an inorganic compound with the formula . It is a white solid ionic compound consisting of sodium cations and hydroxide anions . Sodium hydroxide is a highly corrosive base and alkali t ...

. The composition of the additional ingredients, however, still remains a well-guarded secret of the approximately twenty picklers. These taste-enhancing ingredients, such as

basil Basil (, ; , ; ''Ocimum basilicum'' (, )), also called great basil, is a culinary herb of the family Lamiaceae (mints). It is a hardiness (plants), tender plant, and is used in cuisines worldwide. In Western cuisine, the generic term "basil" r ...

lemon balm Lemon balm (''Melissa officinalis'') is a perennial herbaceous plant in the mint family. It has lemon-scented leaves, white or pale pink flowers, and contains essential oils and compounds like geranial and neral. It grows to a maximum height o ...

grape leaves Grape leaves, the leaves of the grapevine plant, are used in the cuisines of a number of cultures. They may be obtained fresh, or Food preservation, preserved in jars or cans. The leaves are commonly rolled or stuffed with mixtures of meat and ...

, cherry leaves or walnut leaves, give Spreewald gherkins their special sour, spicy taste. After the

reunification of Germany German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the German Democratic Republic and the integration of i ...

in 1990, Spreewald gherkins were one of the few products from

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

which were still available without interruption. The gherkins also achieved fame in 2003 with the award-winning film '' Good Bye Lenin!'' by Wolfgang Becker. In this

tragicomedy Tragicomedy is a literary genre that blends aspects of both tragedy, tragic and comedy, comic forms. Most often seen in drama, dramatic literature, the term can describe either a tragic play which contains enough comic elements to lighten the ov ...

Daniel Brühl Daniel César Martín Brühl González (; ; born 16 June 1978) is a German and Spanish actor. He has received various accolades, including three European Film Awards and three German Film Awards, along with nominations for two Golden Globe Awar ...

has great difficulty obtaining the Spreewald gherkins that his sick mother (

Katrin Sass Katrin Sass (, for a time Katrin Saß) is a German actress. She became known internationally for playing the idealistic socialist mother Christiane Kerner in the 2003 tragicomedy '' Good Bye, Lenin!'' Biography She was born in Schwerin, in t ...

) dearly loved and which he absolutely needed to convince her of the continued existence of the (in her view) "ideal East German world". Meanwhile, the gherkins can again be obtained under their

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a form of intellectual property that consists of a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination that identifies a Good (economics and accounting), product or Service (economics), service f ...

ed name ''Spreewälder Gurken'', which is a

(PGI) in the EU as of March 1999. In 2004, 50 businesses in the region announced their voluntary commitment to declare the Spreewald to be a genetic-engineering-free region.

Gherkin locations and the ''Gurkenradweg''

There are cucumber fields in all of the Spreewald, the largest part of which has been specially protected as the ''Biosphärenreservat Spreewald'' (Spreewald Biosphere Reserve) since 1990. The following locations have special offerings on and around the gherkin: * ''

Golßen Golßen (; ) or Golssen is a town in the district of Dahme-Spreewald, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the '' Amt'' ("collective municipality") Unterspreewald. Geography Golßen is in the northwest of Lower Lusatia, close ...

''. Spreewaldkonserve Golßen - Tour of a gherkin production site * ''

Leipe Lipienek is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Lisewo, within Chełmno County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-central Poland. It lies south-east of Chełmno and north of Toruń Toruń is a city on the Vistula River ...

''. Traditional vegetable growing * '' Lehde''. Farmhouse and gherkin museum * '' Schlepzig''. Agricultural history museum * '' Lübbenau/Spreewald''. Spreewaldmuseum The Gurken-Radweg (Gherkin Bicycle Path) is named in honor of the gherkin, because of its services. The logo of the tour shows a smiling gherkin on a bicycle. At the annual Spreewald-Marathon, which is held in the disciplines of running, bicycling, hiking, canoeing, and skating, the competition is started with, "''Auf die Gurke, fertig, los"'' (On the gherkin, steady, go!) instead of "''Auf die Plätze, fertig, los"'' (ready, steady, go!).

Sources

, ''

Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg ''Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg'' ("Ramblings through Brandenburg", "Rambles in Brandenburg" or "Walks through the Margraviate of Brandenburg, March of Brandenburg") is a five-volume travelogue by the Germany, German writer Theodor Fontan ...

'' Volume 4. ''Spreeland''. Cited from the 1998 edition, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin.

References

{{portal bar, Germany, Food Pickles German cuisine German products with protected designation of origin Brandenburg Brandenburg cuisine Vegetable dishes Ostalgie