(serves 6): 5 egg yolks, 150 g sugar, 1 tbsp ground cinnamon, 2 cl cognac, 1/2 l cream.
Cinnamon parfait is a classic, easy-to-make dessert based on the popular cinnamon-sugar alliance.
Beat the egg yolks until foamy, sift in the sugar and add the cognac. Stir in the cinnamon. Whip the cream until stiff, fold in with a whisk and freeze the parfait mixture in the freezer for at least 4 hours, but preferably overnight. Return to the refrigerator 1 hour before serving to soften slightly.
.with pickled plums. Ingredients: 24 prunes, 1/4 l fruity red wine, 120 g sugar, 2 cloves, 1 star anise, zest of 1 each untreated orange and lemon; 1 tbsp lemon juice. Boil the sugar with the red wine to a light syrup, add the spices and the peel of the citrus fruits (without the white) cut into fine strips. Pour over the plums and leave to infuse for at least 12 hours.
The scent of the big, wide world of spices
.When Eduard and Martha Schnorr served genuine Hungarian goulash soup to the people of Frankfurt in their shop in the 1950s, where the Sandhofpassage is today, it was considered highly exotic. Paprika! And not before Schnorr presented Indonesian spices from Holland. So extravagant, this had never been eaten before! Also with many of the teas German tongues might have had their dear trouble.
Today, in the still comfortably narrow shop in the Neue Kräme, a whole symphony of scents and flavors surrounds the now worldly customers.
Spices, from A to Z, from anise to cinnamon, it's all there. Although even spices are subject to fashions. Allspice, for instance, clove pepper, which currently leads a shadowy existence. Or the tonka bean. Only savvy, older housewives still know and use it for its subtle buttery aroma. Others, however, are booming, such as mace, the orange-coloured shell of the nut. It spices more gently, but also has a more lasting effect. Couldn't the popularity of cardamom also have something to do with the fact that, in addition to the smell of garlic, it also drowns out a whiff of alcohol?
In vogue above all are spice blends that customers encounter on trips to faraway countries. Otherwise, say Manfred and Renate Ott-Thiel, the successors of the Schnorrs, the discovery of completely unknown spices is no longer to be expected, neither in unexplored primeval forests nor in mountain valleys that are difficult to access. The situation is different with teas, where there is always something new.
So one hears few complaints from the spice traders' sector, on the contrary: a lot is being cooked at home again. It is also becoming more and more known that spices do not keep indefinitely, but have to be stored carefully in light-protected containers and also have to be renewed from time to time.
A special, not very popular, but basically harmless species of walk-in customers arrives after the main travel season: bargain hunters. They have bought cheap saffron in oriental bazaars and now hope to get rid of it expensively. Unfortunately, this is so-called "Bastard saffron", which has almost nothing to do with the real thing. For saffron, the pollen of a very specific type of crocus, still has to be harvested laboriously by hand, and it takes around 250,000 blossoms to produce one kilo. This effort has its price all over the world: a kilo of saffron costs up to 3,000 €. So the Ott-Thiels have to disappoint many a person who thinks they can refinance their holiday with saffron.
Saffron not only makes "the cake gel", but gives an inimitable, exquisite, slightly bitter spice, even in small doses. A large quantity, on the other hand, could be fatal, says an old book. Cinnamon, for example, causes no problems, it is cheap and therefore forgery-proof. I use aromatic, ground cinnamon for my cinnamon parfait. Along with pickled plums, it makes a nice treat, with no danger to life or limb.
Spice and Tea House Schnorr
Manfred and Renate Ott-Thiel
Neue Kräme 28
60311 Frankfurt am Main
Phone: 069 / 284717
Fax: 283408
Opening hours: Open Mondays to Fridays from 10am-6pm, Saturdays from 10am-4pm
from Waldemar Thomas