Evidence in Grimm letters: chocolate was eaten in Germany earlier than previously known

As part of a long-term project funded by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, art historian and Grimm expert Dr. Andrea Linnebach-Wegner analyzed the brothers' correspondence with older relatives. The private correspondence provides insights into the family life and everyday life of the researchers. The documents shed new light on Jacob in particular: his mother Dorothea, for example, warns Jacob, who is often considered stiff and cerebral, not to dance so much.

But that's not all: "I came across several passages in which chocolate balls are mentioned and which immediately electrified me as a cultural historian," reports Linnebach. "In 1812, the aunt of the Brothers Grimm, Henriette Zimmer, wrote to her nephews that she was sending them chocolate balls." Zimmer, chambermaid to the Electress of Hesse, had come across the rare delicacy when she went into exile with her mistress in Gotha during the French occupation of Kassel in 1806. The court confectioner there apparently experimented with solid chocolate very early on.

At the end of February 1812, Henriette wrote to Wilhelm that an acquaintance was taking a gift from Gotha to Kassel. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were living there and working on the Children's and Household Tales. The aunt announces: "Since I still have the opportunity that Mr. Rode wants to take something with him, I will send the Kügelgen chocolate that I think you would like to eat." In a letter dated March 7, 1812, Wilhelm thanks him for the "pleasant gift of chocolate" and adds: "I'm not going out for a walk without taking a few." In June, Aunt Henriette sent chocolate again, this time with the recommendation to put the balls in his mouth at his desk. Having become aware of this correspondence, Linnebach found a Gotha court confectioner's recipe for "chocolate pralines", which were probably gifts from Aunt Henriette.

Linnebach calls the find "a small cultural-historical sensation". She edited the letters during her work in the "Work and Impact of the Brothers Grimm" department, which is headed by Prof. Dr. Holger Ehrhardt. The edition was published last year. However, the early evidence of eating chocolate has only now become more widely known, as Linnebach, now retired, encouraged a Kassel chocolate manufacturer to produce the balls according to the Gotha recipe.

Andrea Linnebach (ed.): Correspondence between the brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm and their older relatives. Hirzel, Stuttgart 2023.

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