{{Short description|Swiss traditional Christmas biscuit}} {{Infobox prepared food | name = Tirggel | name_lang = de | name_italics = true | image = Migros-Tirggel.jpg | image_size = 250px | caption = Industrially manufactured tirggel as sold by Swiss retailer Migros in 2008 | alternate_name = | country = Switzerland | region = Zürich | creator = | course = | type = Biscuit | served = | main_ingredient = Flour, honey, sugar, water | variations = | calories = | other = }}
'''''Tirggel''''' are traditional Christmas biscuits from Zürich, Switzerland.<ref name="Tagesschau">{{cite news|url=http://www.videoportal.sf.tv/flash/videoplayer.swf?mode=embed&segment_id=673e4ffd-ae85-4621-9331-853098eed0f5&referrer=|title=Züri Tirggel|date=6 December 2008|publisher=SF Tagesschau|language=German|accessdate=2008-12-07}}{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Made from flour and honey, they are thin, hard, and sweet.
==History==
''Tirggel'' are first recorded in Zürich as ''Dirgel'' in 1461.<ref>For details see ''Schweizerisches Idiotikon,'' vol. XIII 1567 ff., article [https://www.idiotikon.ch/Register/faksimile.php?band=13&spalte=1567&lemma=Tirggel ''Tirggel''.]</ref> They have been manufactured there ever since with elaborately carved wooden moulds depicting Biblical or regional themes.<ref name="Tages-Anzeiger">{{cite news|url=http://www.honegger-tirggel.ch/images/stories/tirggel/tagi.pdf|title=Wenn es duftet, ist wieder Tirggelzeit|last=Pfändler|first=Stefanie|date=3 December 2008|publisher=Tages-Anzeiger|language=German|accessdate=2008-12-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306142915/http://www.honegger-tirggel.ch/images/stories/tirggel/tagi.pdf|archive-date=6 March 2016|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> More recently, the wooden moulds—four of which are exhibited in the Swiss National Museum—have been replaced by polycarbonate casts, which are easier to handle.<ref name="Tages-Anzeiger" />
==Preparation== Tirggel dough is composed of flour, 29 percent honey,<ref name="Tagesschau" /> some sugar and water;<ref name="Baker 35">{{cite book|last=Baker|first=Margaret|title=Discovering Christmas Customs and Folklore: A Guide to Seasonal Rites|publisher=Osprey Publishing|date=1992|pages=35|isbn=0747801754|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7fttUemH6ekC&pg=PA35}}{{Dead link|date=January 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> although one source reports that it is or was made without sugar, which is taken to be an indication of the ''tirggel''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s pre-Christian origins.<ref name="Wernecke 65">{{cite book|last=Wernecke|first=Herbert Henry|title=Christmas Customs Around the World|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|date=1959|pages=65|isbn=0664242588|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gQhx6im_-jMC&pg=PA65}}</ref>
The dough is pressed very thinly into elaborately carved moulds of varying shapes and sizes. The biscuits are baked in a high-temperature oven at {{convert|400|°C|°F|0|lk=on}} for only 90 seconds<ref name="Honegger Tirggel-Herstellung">{{cite web|url=http://www.honegger-tirggel.ch/tirggel/tirggel-herstellung|title=Tirggel-Herstellung|publisher=Honegger Confiserie Wald|language=German|accessdate=2008-12-07|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121029035747/http://www.honegger-tirggel.ch/tirggel/tirggel-herstellung|archivedate=2012-10-29}}</ref> and require good timing to get right.<ref name="Tagesschau" />
==Consumption== Because ''tirggel'' are hard and dry, they are best when sucked on for a while, which allows the honey flavour to become more pronounced.<ref name="Tagesschau" />
''Tirggel'' are also very durable. Swiss writer Emanuel Stickelberger reported in 1939 that "the ''tirggel'' has the admirable quality of not becoming stale, and the harder it gets, the more enjoyable is it to nibble on."<ref>{{cite book|last=Stickelberger|first=Emanuel|title=Heisst ein Haus zum Schweizerdegen: Tausend Jahre deutschschweizerischen Geisteslebens|publisher=O. Walter a.-g.|date=1939|volume=II|pages=688|language=German}}</ref> On account of their elaborate ornamentation, traditionally manufactured ''tirggel'' are often not eaten at all for months or years and are kept as decorations instead.<ref name="Spicer 218">{{cite book|last=Spicer|first=Dorothy Gladys|title=Festivals of Western Europe|publisher=Forgotten Books|date=1958|pages=218|isbn=1605068012|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5JF_kT43LjcC&pg=PA218}}</ref>
== See also == * Culinary Heritage of Switzerland
==References== {{reflist|2}}
==Further reading== [[File:Migros-Tirggel quadratisch.jpg|thumb|Tirggel often depict scenes from the history of Zürich such as the Spanisch-Brötli-Bahn—Switzerland's first railway—shown here.]]
*{{cite journal|last=Ott|first=Ernst|date=1967|title=Der Tirggel|journal=Schweizer Volkskunde|publisher=Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Volkskunde|volume=57|issue=1–6|issn=0048-9522|oclc=1765168}} *{{cite book|last=Schuh|first=Gotthard|title=Tirggel. Ein altes Weihnachtsgebäck. Mit einer Kulturhistorischen Einführung von Edwin Arnet. |publisher=Amstutz und Herdeg|date=1941|oclc=3561897}} * Schweizerisches Idiotikon, Band XIII, Spalten 1567–1573, Artikel ''Tirggel'' ([https://www.idiotikon.ch/Register/faksimile.php?band=13&spalte=1567&lemma=Tirggel digitalisate]). *{{cite book|last=Zogg|first=Annemarie|title=Züri-tirggel: Bräuche, Bilder, Herstellung|publisher=Zürcher Kantonalbank|date=1992|oclc=32194377}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Tirggel}}
*{{Kulinarischeserbe.ch|321}} * Hans-Peter Schifferle, Christoph Landolt: [https://www.idiotikon.ch/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=340&Itemid=225 ''Wienachtsguetsli – die Klassiker''], in: ''Wortgeschichte'' of December 15, 2016, published by ''Schweizerisches Idiotikon''.
{{Portal bar|Food|Switzerland}}
Category:Christmas food Category:Biscuits Category:Swiss cuisine Category:Culture of Zurich Category:Culinary Heritage of Switzerland Category:Swiss confectionery