Quetschentaart, the plum tart that signals autumn in Luxembourg

Every cuisine has a bake that marks the turn of the season, and in Luxembourg it’s this one. Quetschentaart is a plum tart with no decoration beyond the fruit, and I like it for exactly that reason, because it forces you to eat it at the right time. One important note first. There’s no official page on it from the government or the tourist board, so I’ll tell you what the country’s youth hostels say and what I’d do, making clear which is which.

What is Quetschentaart?

Luxembourg’s youth hostels, which publish a series of national recipes on their blog, present it as the plum tart that is the pride of the country’s patisseries. Quetschen is the local word for the plums, and the tart is open, with a shortcrust base and the fruit halved and arranged in concentric circles, cut side up.

According to the same source, it’s a symbol of summer ending and autumn beginning. When the plums start to ripen in the orchards, it’s time to bake one, and it’s still a fixture at village fêtes and family gatherings.

The fruit calendar

Here I do have an official source. The government portal runs a summer series on seasonal produce, and its August page features orchards in Steinsel where a grower produces cherries, plums, pears and mirabelles on about 6.5 hectares. It explains that mirabelles are picked over barely four weeks, from mid-August to early September, and suggests turning mirabelles and plums into compote or tarts to stretch the season. So my advice is simple, look for Quetschentaart from late August to October.

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How it’s made

The hostels’ recipe starts with a shortcrust of flour, sugar, salt, diced cold butter and an egg, chilled for half an hour. The plums are washed, halved and stoned, then tossed with sugar, cornflour and cinnamon if you like it. Roll out the pastry into a buttered tin, arrange the plums in circles and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the pastry is golden and the fruit soft.

The hostels admit that every family has its own version. Some want it crisper, some softer, with or without cinnamon, sweeter or less so, arranged neatly or piled on rustic-style. To me that’s the best sign of a bake that’s still alive.

Baking it yourself is straightforward, and few dishes from the Grand Duchy travel to a British kitchen so easily, since plums are in the shops at exactly the same time of year. My only advice is to pack the halves tightly, because they shrink as they bake, and to let the tart cool a little before cutting so the juices set. Serve it warm with a spoonful of cream, or cold the next day with a strong coffee, and you’ve brought a Luxembourg autumn afternoon home.

What to have with it

Coffee, mid-afternoon, which is how the hostels suggest it and how I’d have it. If you’d rather avoid caffeine, they propose black tea or a red berry infusion. For something more festive, a glass of crémant de Luxembourg, whose bubbles balance the sweetness, or a Moselle Auxerrois. I like that last idea a lot, especially if you’re passing through wine country during the harvest.

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The rest of Luxembourg’s sweet calendar

Quetschentaart is the autumn bake, but it isn’t the only one that follows the seasons. At carnival there are Verwurrelter, knots of fried dough dusted with icing sugar, and Nonnefäscht, little fritters, according to the official portal. The tourist board also mentions seasonal treats such as the Boxemännchen and the Bretzel, and Bamkuch, the tree cake built up layer by layer as it turns over a flame, which the Namur patisserie bakes twice a week. Line up a few of those seasons and you’ve got a sweet tour of the Luxembourg year.

Where to look for it

In patisseries and tea rooms, in season. I can’t give you names of places that sell it, because no official source lists them and inventing a shop would help nobody. The tourist board devotes a whole page to the country’s patisseries, from Namur, open since 1863, to Oberweis, founded in 1964, and that’s where I’d start browsing shop windows on an autumn afternoon. The other sweets and dishes are in Luxembourg food, and what’s worth taking home is in what to buy in Luxembourg.

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