Snail paste, Baumkuchen and the most delicious cookies
Saxony-Anhalt shows what the state can do at Grüne Woche: from traditional craftsmanship to pioneering innovations.
Five men sit cheerfully in front of large glasses of beer. The skat friends from Reupzig near Köthen travel to Grüne Woche every year. Their buddy Jens is coming back. He had promised “something special”. Now he holds a plate of bread pieces with paste in front of them. “Here, liver sausage,” Jens fibs, without blushing even a little. “Oh, stop it,” replies one of the others: ”You got it from the snail stall at the back.” The mood at the table suddenly sinks. Snail puree? Even seasoned men can handle the idea. Four of them eventually pull themselves together and - well: “Yes, it really does taste like liverwurst, quite good actually.”
Snail paste “Altmark” or “Asia”
“It takes a bit of effort,” admits Luise Ringel as she passes tasters of snail paste across the table. Curious schoolchildren, men and women of all ages remain fascinated at the Altmark snail farming stand, where two dozen snails are frolicking in a glass box filled with soil and food. “Snail meat is very low in fat and rather neutral in taste, similar in consistency to beef tongue,” explains Luise Ringel, who is representing the family business at Grüne Woche with her husband.
His mother Carmen Kalkofen is the manager of the long-established asparagus farm near Tangerhütte and is “extremely keen to experiment”, as her daughter-in-law explains. So Kalkofen joined a research project, cleared a hectare for snail farming - and can now offer the first products. Anhalt University of Applied Sciences developed three snail pastes - “Altmark” with marjoram, “Italia” with tomato and “Asia” with turmeric - as well as two ragouts (Jägertopf and Puszta), which can now be purchased at Grüne Woche in Saxony-Anhalt Hall 23. The aim of the project is to utilize the animals as a whole. The Leibniz Institute Dresden is investigating the use of snail slime.
There is so much to discover in Hall 23. Hot hemp chocolate, for example, hand-sifted vegan soaps from the Helfta monastery manufactory, “Harzer Nussliebe”, but also lots of sausages and “Rauchpeitschen”.
Baumkuchen with blossoms
Baumkuchen simply belongs to Saxony-Anhalt. “Grüne Woche 2025 - We are here for you - Daniela & Sandra” is written in green icing on an almost meter-high specimen decorated with pink flowers. It was designed and made by Sandra Schröder. The trained confectioner is production manager at the Erste Salzwedeler Baumkuchenfabrik Hennig, where she designs everything that customers want. She uses marzipan to shape teddies, horses, footballs and even the kissing mouth of the Aida - for a couple celebrating their wedding anniversary on the ship. “We bring a different large cake to Grüne Woche every time,” says colleague Daniela Böttcher.
Tastes like more: butter cookie with wafer and nougat cream
Diagonally opposite, the family business Wikana sells tender, crumbly cookies: butter cookies, Othello cookies, Viking cookies with lemon or nougat cream, cold dog, to name but a few. “The special thing about our cookies is that we have our own recipe for each variety,” says Marketing Manager Nicole Witting. “We also have organic cookies made from spelt and we are constantly working on reducing the sugar content.” Special recommendation: wafer & cookie - wafer on top, cookie underneath, nougat cream in between. If you want more, you can visit the “Wikana Kekswelt” right next to the factory in Lutherstadt Wittenberg.
