Food & Tradition

Every July, Pretzfeld celebrates the cherry. The Fränkisches Kirschenfest has been held since 1971, a down-to-earth beer festival held on the Keller, the festival grounds on the hillside. The mayor taps the first keg, the Cherry Queen stands by his side, and on Sunday a grand parade winds through the village. In Franconia, beer and spirits traditionally go hand in hand: beer belongs to the festival, while the spirit belongs more to the kitchen.

Among the region's dishes is Kirschenmichel, a bake made from stale rolls, eggs, and cherries, with many recipes calling for a splash of Kirschwasser. Here the spirit fits right into the dish, intensifying the cherry flavor in the batter without adding sugar. Cherry cake and jam made from the harvest round out the local fare.

Kirschwasser also has its place in Franconia as a digestif, often served after a hearty meal or a roast. Whether a shot after dinner truly aids digestion is an old question. The evidence actually points the other way: alcohol slows digestion rather than speeding it up. The pleasant feeling afterward is simply relaxation.

The trees that make all of this possible grow on traditional orchard meadows. Anyone who has their fruit distilled keeps these trees part of the landscape's living cycle. Lawmakers cite exactly this reasoning for the tax break granted to small distilleries, and the Pretzfeld Cherry Trail tells that same story along its path.

Anyone traveling there in April takes home mostly the blossoms. By July, the town belongs to the Cherry Festival, and between the two lies the harvest, at the end of which a clear spirit begins its rest in the cellar.