Glarner Pastete

Glarner Pastete is a flower-shaped pie made in the Glarus region of Switzerland. One half of the pie is filled with almond and the other half with plum. When you cut through the lid dusted with powdered sugar, two flavors appear inside the same pastry.

Two fillings in one pie

Pastry is cut into a flower shape, and a thick layer of dough is added around the edge to form the base. A filling of finely ground almonds combined with egg and sugar and a filling made from softened dried plums are each placed over one half, and a lid of thin pastry is laid on top. During baking, the laminated pastry at the edge puffs up and encloses the fillings. Depending on where you cut, you can taste the richness of the almond and the fruitiness of the plum separately or together.

In the method of a pastry maker introduced by a Swiss food-culture resource, an oval is cut in the center of the lid and radiating slits are made around it as decoration. After baking, the pie is generously dusted with powdered sugar and finished with a figure of St. Fridolin, who also appears on the coat of arms of Glarus. The thin lid and the thickly layered edge enclose the two fillings, making a large pastry that is cut into pieces to eat.

The large Pastete and the small Beggeli

The smaller relatives are called Beggeli, and some examples are filled with either almond or plum. According to a Swiss food-culture resource, the name is said to come from a Glarus dialect word for a baking vessel used in the past. Local producers also make small versions that combine both fillings, as well as long Pastete that can be cut to whatever size you like.

Cut at celebrations and sent as gifts

The large pies have been cut and shared at celebrations and also given as gifts. The head of an association of Glarus bakers says that at Christmas they sometimes received bulk orders from companies and mailed the pies to various parts of Switzerland. Even now that they can be bought year-round, the large ones are chosen for special occasions and the small Beggeli for walks and snacks.

A festival record from 1900 and theories about the origin

A Swiss food-culture resource notes that a regional folklore record from 1900 describes a pastry filled half with almond and half with jam being served at festivals and gatherings. Some early 20th-century recipes used raspberries or an unspecified jam instead of plums. As for the flower shape, recipes of that time called for an ordinary round tin, so the current shape may have spread later.

Accounts of its origin include a theory that a Glarus officer who served in France brought it back, and a story that in the 19th century Anna Aebli-Oertli inherited the recipe from a relative. Neither is evidence that settles a single beginning for the pastry. It has been handed down as a pastry served at local celebrations, changing its fillings and shape along the way.

Glossary