Einsiedeln Schafbock
A flat honey and spice biscuit, bearing in relief a lamb lying down, the Lamb of God. It is the speciality of Einsiedeln, which visitors to the abbey take home as a souvenir.
In front of Einsiedeln Abbey, a pilgrim slips a round, golden biscuit into a bag. On top, a lamb lying down stands out in relief; inside, the crumb is white and light. It will easily last until the journey home.
Origin
It is one of the oldest pilgrimage pastries in Switzerland. According to Culinary Heritage of Switzerland, the abbey archivist Odilo Ringholz found it in a merchants’ regulation of 1631, though he believed it to be much older. It was then called “Schäfli”, the little sheep. Its sellers shared a limited number of pitches near the monastery, drawn by lot each spring. A regulation of 1688 forbade them to shout, to sing or to leave the selling to young girls, and required pear honey, bee honey being permitted only as an exception. In the following century, after the village fire, their shops merged with those of the gingerbread sellers.
Making
The dough combines honey, sugar, water and flour, with a hint of cinnamon and clove; a raising agent makes it swell. It is weighed into portions and rolled into sticks, then each piece is pressed into a two-part wooden mould, oiled so that nothing sticks. To spare the old moulds, resin copies are also used. The heat comes from above: the reliefs brown, the centre stays pale. The small ones go along an automatic line; the medium and large ones are still shaped by hand.
At the table
Less spicy than gingerbread, the Schafbock lets the honey take the lead. On the Way of St. James, passing pilgrims bought it because it keeps for a long time. Today it is eaten with coffee, given as a gift or brought home as a souvenir. In the rest of central and eastern Switzerland, it goes by other names: Hälibock in Lucerne and Zug, Holebänz in Unterwalden.
Today
Only Einsiedeln makes it, in sizes from 3 to 15 cm, and it is eaten all year round, in Switzerland and in the neighbouring countries. The makers, though, are becoming scarce: according to Culinary Heritage of Switzerland, only two remain in the village. Only bee honey now goes into the dough, and the biscuits are no longer blessed as they once were.
Sources: Culinary Heritage of Switzerland, entry “Einsiedler Schafbock”.