Throwback Thursday: picking raisins

Here we have a German saying: someone is simply picking the raisins. Such a guy is called a raisin-picker. What does this mean?

Raisins are dried grapes and often used as an ingredient for baking cakes, torte or bread or while cooking food. Despite, they don’t have much liquid left after the drying process, they taste great. They are soft and sweet. Most people like them. But, because of the way they are produced, they are quite expensive and thus a valuable ingredient.

So, when we say, someone is picking the raisins, he or she is taking a lot of something good and does not leave enough for the others. In this context the ‘good’ not necessarily needs to be food. It could also be public holidays inside the vacation time. Or, when it comes to pay for a round, one always pay only the cheap drinks and leaves the expensive drinks to be paid by the others. Or doing the easy work while leaving the hard work to be done by the others. I guess, you got the idea.

Do you have a similar saying? Leave me a note in the comments.

This little guy is picking a raisin out from a Dresdner Christstollen (or shorter Dresdener Stollen), a typical German sweet, spiced bread. It’s made with a lot of butter, sugar, raisins, candied orange peel, candied citron peel, nuts, almonds, mild, rum and a lot more. Although, it’s known and made in many more parts of Germany, the Stollen from Dresden is best know.

Take care!

out of the stollen

this is a play on words in German.

A Stollen is the word for a tunnel in mining and also the name of this kind of cake.

The complete name is “Dresdner Christstollen”, because it’s origin is the city of Dresden in the eastern part of Germany. Nowadays this kind of fruit loaf is known in whole Germany, but not everyone likes it.

The cake is very sweet and very satiably.

You can eat it with butter at tea / coffee time in the afternoon (or whenever you want it 🙂 ). You have to eat it within a few days and keep the cut face from drying-out. So, you better save both ends and take slices from the middle for eating.

As you can see, there is a lot of sugar in it as well as butter, rosins and candied lemon and orange peel. 

Every now and then, I like one or two slices, but not too regularly.

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