Sugar bunny
The sugar bunny is a sweet that is marketed for Easter . In addition to the red sugar rabbits , which are particularly common in southern Germany , yellowish specimens, so-called cream rabbits, are also sold. Traditionally, sugar bunnies were made in bakeries, pastry shops and sugar bakeries.
Manufacturing
A mass of granulated sugar, water and glucose syrup is heated to around 156 ° C, corresponding to 125 degrees Réaumur on the temperature scale sometimes used in the pastry shop. It is either colored with red food coloring and clarified with a little vinegar or - for cream bunnies - enriched with cream and butter. The mass must not be stirred when it is heated, as this would stimulate the crystallization of the sugar. The hot, liquid mass is poured into metal molds that can be opened and brushed with oil, although a large part of the sugar is poured out again immediately afterwards, so that only a hollow, thin-walled figure can be created. After hardening in the cold mold, the excess sugar is knocked off at the foot and the mold is then opened so that the rabbit can be removed. This is only possible at a certain stage in the cooling of the sugar mass, as otherwise the sugar bunny will either be too soft and lose its shape again or bond so firmly to the metal mold that it will break when you remove it.
Color symbolism
The red sugar bunnies symbolize the victory of life and love at Easter, the yellow ones the bright light after the dark Easter night. While the red, transparent rabbits are colored extra, the yellow cream rabbits get their color from the ingredients butter and cream. They tend to have a softer consistency and are less translucent.
history
Sugar bunnies were produced from the 18th century, when sugar became affordable through the production of beetroot in refineries instead of importing expensive cane sugar , but mainly from the middle of the 19th to the middle of the 20th century. After that, Easter sweets were increasingly made from chocolate, so that later on, hardly any molds for sugar bunnies were produced.
Permanent and special exhibitions
A collection of sugar bunny shapes and historical production equipment can be viewed in the Zuckergässle in Langenenslingen .
In the Markgräfler Museum in Müllheim an exhibition with the topic “Easter confectionery forms” and the title “Alles Formsache” ran until April 22, 2012. The exhibition "Of red sugar bunnies and brittle eggs" was on view in Weil am Rhein until May 9, 2012 .
Others
In 1927 Doris Lautenschlager's book The New Sugar Bunny was published by JF Schreiber Verlag in Esslingen am Neckar . It was designed in the shape of a hare, the cover showed a wild-colored hare with a basket with eggs on its back.
Web links
- Series of images for the production of sugar bunnies
- Zuckerhasen article in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung 2017
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b report in the daily newspaper
- ^ Report in the Badische Zeitung from Stühlingen
- ↑ Museum find from the parish barn in Mögglingen ( Memento from December 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ http://www.baeckerei-frank.de/aktion.php (link not available)
- ^ A b Exhibition in the Markgräfler Museum in Müllheim
- ↑ http://www.roessle.eu/aktuell/aktuelles_region/ (link not available)
- ^ Badische Zeitung about the exhibition in Weil am Rhein