The typical spiced pastries of the Christmas markets, in various shapes (stars, hearts, crescents) often decorated with greeting phrases, have a very ancient origin: it was in 1409, as a matter of fact, that the word "lebkuchen" appeared for the first time in documents of the pastry chef guild of Nuremberg, the city from which these eventually spread throughout central Europe and also in South Tyrol.

According to a number of hypotheses, the term could derive from the Latin "libum," which means "flattened." The original recipe includes marzipan, nuts, honey, eggs, sugar, candied citrus fruits and then many spices, from cinnamon to ginger, from cloves to anise.