Above the Niederegger Café in Lübeck is the Niederegger Marzipan Museum, where you can learn a lot about the history of marzipan making and the company - without paying an entrance fee. You can follow the journey of the delicious paste from its Middle Eastern origins to the present day on panels, but the star of the show is undoubtedly the dozens of famous people associated with Lübeck who have been memorialised in marzipan.
There is, for example, the German-Roman Emperor Charles IV and Thomas Mann, who even mentions marzipan in his novel The House of Buddenbrook. The sculptures are made from paste moulded from the company's original recipe from 1806. Although neither almonds nor sugar were a local ingredient in Lübeck, as a trading town, confectioners always had easy access to them. The citizens of Lübeck started making marzipan in the 18th century, when sugar was still a rarity. The original recipe called for a ratio of almonds to sugar of exactly 70-30.
Almond paste became widespread when they were able to extract sugar from beet, because this made this important raw material available - and this was already in the 19th century. Before then, only the richest could afford such a delicacy. Despite the fact that sugar was no longer a problem to obtain, Lübeck marzipan makers stuck to their own almond-dominant recipe, which is still easily recognisable today because it is less sweet than in other parts of the world.
The Niederegger company started operations in 1806 in Lübeck's Old Town, near the City Hall. Anyone who wants to learn about their history can do so in this particular second-floor museum, and once you've satisfied your thirst for information, you just have to walk down to the shop, among the tempting sweets, and try out what you've learned.
(source: atlasobscura.com)
