10 soups to warm up a cold, damp season
Germans are masters in making soup. Beyond the classics, the country offers an array of regional soups that will tempt your palate. Especially in the cold, rainy season, a tasty, warm soup is irresistible.
Pumpkin soup
While not indigenous to Germany, pumpkin soup is practically on every menu in German restaurants in the fall. Healthy and wholesome, it's also filling; plus, its bright orange color is a great booster to survive long stretches of gray skies.
Flädle soup
"Flädle" soup can primarily be found in southern Germany, particularly in Bavaria. Influenced by Tyrolean cuisine of neighboring Austria, it is a simple soup made of broth and strips of pancakes, so it's a good way of using breakfast left-overs! For flavoring, add chives, leeks, laurel leaves, parsley, salt and pepper, of course, any other spices you fancy.
Bavarian Griessknödel soup
Staying in Bavaria, Bavarian Griessknödel or Griessnockerl soup will warm you up. Much like the Flädle soup, it has a vegetable or meat broth base, often combined with milk, eggs, butter and nutmeg, bits of carrots and chives or onions. Other variants see the dumplings served in a spinach or fish soup. Since it's a "cozy," filling soup, it's often given to people or kids who are sick with the flu.
Bavarian beer soup
What would Bavaria be without beer? The region even lets its most famous beverage flow into a soup. You braise a diced onion in butter, lightly toast bread crumbs and combine with the base, then deglaze with meat broth, simmer, add beer, salt and pepper, simmer again, then serve topped with chives or slices of onion. Yum!
Pea soup
Moving to the North, to the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, you'll find a regional classic: pea soup! While the color may turn some people off, it's a great way to warm up in a chilly season. It's also standard fare during Carnival festivities in February/March — usually made with bits of sausage and served with a bread roll, it's served at outdoor stands throughout celebrating cities.
North German fish soup
According to the German Soup Institute, the northern German city of Hamburg is something of a "soup capital." Since it's also Germany's largest port, it's no wonder that fish soup is top on the region's list. Of course, "fish" is a loose term, so the soup could include everything from shrimp and mussels, to tilapia and ocean perch. The area is also known for its eel, oxtail and plum/cherry soups.
Potato soup
Moving to the East, Berlin boasts potato soup on numerous menus, only here, it's more of a stew. It's also become a classic the world over. Berlin and the neighboring region of Brandenburg also serve up barley soup, smoked meat soup with syrup and plums, as well as crawfish soup with asparagus tips.
Goulash soup
While originally Hungarian and known to many as "beef goulash" – a meat sauce dish served with noodles or potatoes – in Germany, you'll also find this classic turned into a soup on nearly every menu across the country during the colder months.
Wild garlic soup
Some may shudder at the notion of wild garlic soup, but it's infinitely delicious. Its fresh and fragrant leaves and flowers, and not its bulbs, give the soup its flavor. And, its earthy green color makes you feel you're injecting your body with something healthy. And you are! Studies suggest that garlic may help protect against certain forms of cancer.
Asparagus cream soup
Germans will always find a way to integrate asparagus into their diet. Though late spring gives birth to aromatic white asparagus straight from the field (it's sold at street-side stands), some people are known to crack open a jarred variant to make the cream soup in the fall since they just can't wait for the fresh season. A bit of baguette is the right accompaniment to its delicate flavor.