Christmas Market in Create Hamamatsu

Create Hamamatsu is a community center, where many cultural activities and events are held. Today, they had a Christmas market. I had been looking forward to going there since a couple of weeks ago because I heard a German bread bakery Roggenmehl would participate in the event.

When I buy bread at bakeries, I choose either French bread (baguette) or German rye bread. This is not because I try to choose vegan options, but because I simply like European hard bread. Unfortunately, options of hard bread are quite limited in ordinary bakeries, so I expected to have much wider selection in this Christmas market.

When I entered the building around 10:00, there was already a chorus group singing a Christmas song. I found a big Christmas tree beside a stall.

Roggenmehl was easy to find. They had too many kinds of bread to choose from.

Besides, they also sold German Christmas cakes stollen that have become popular in recent years. I bought a slice of Stollen as I had never eaten one before, and almost all kinds of hard bread in half size. Each of them had a label on which all the ingredients were listed.

I especially like bread that contains fruits and seeds. I had three kinds of bread for lunch and felt very happy.

This is a slice of stollen. The name of the bakery is beautifully written on the label.

I think Roggenmehl is the only German bread bakery in Hamamatsu. I checked information on their website.

Bakery Roggenmehl
Address: 1-51-32 Takaokakita, Naka-ku, Hamamatsu-shi, Shizuoka
Tel/Fax: 053-437-4753
Open hours: 7:00 - 18:00
Closed: Mondays
Parking space available for six cars

In the Christmas market, I found another interesting stand Maple Experience run by Mr. David Martel from Canada and his wife. They sold Canadian Christmas sweets. I saw Canadian Christmas cakes for the first time. They were slices of fruitcakes with marzipan on top. They explained me that they usually use marzipan for Christmas cakes in Canada and the cakes they were selling would keep for a few weeks. I thought it quite a long time, but I was really surprised when I heard that there were cakes that kept for 25 years!

I became interested in Canadian Christmas cakes and searched for a while after I came home. I learned that the marzipan on the cake represents snow like sugar on Stollen.

I ate a slice with peppermint tea. It was dense with many kinds of ingredients mixed together. It was so good that I regretted not having bought one more.

According to their Facebook page (@mapleexperience), they produce maple sugar and maple butter. Since I was so absorbed in the cakes in the Christmas market, I forgot to ask about their maple products. I wish I can find Maple Experience in some other events and can taste different kinds of sweets flavored by their products.