Karlovarské oplatky

Appearance & taste

The wafer is a flat, round disc about 19 cm in diameter made of two thin sheets of batter. Its embossed pattern shows a leafy branch in a circle 30 mm in diameter, and below it, in a ring at least 20 mm wide, the inscription “Karlovarské oplatky”. In the centre is a symbol of Karlovy Vary: a mineral water fountain or a chamois, which according to legend is linked with the founding of the town. The wafers are crisp, light and thin and, according to the specification, have a special taste and aroma that they owe above all to the mineral healing water.

Between the sheets lies a filling of sugar and hazelnuts or, depending on the flavour, of other ingredients, mostly almonds, cocoa, vanilla or cinnamon. Each wafer is made individually; they are sold in boxes of 5, 6 or 8. The name must be the dominant indication on the product or the packaging.

Production

For the batter, wheat flour, melted vegetable fat, sugar, egg mixture, starch, baking powder and butter are mixed with fresh Karlovy Vary mineral healing water. The water is a natural water containing bicarbonate, sulphur and chloride that rises to the surface from a depth of over 800 m at 73 °C. The liquid, yellow batter contains no yeast and does not rise. It rests for about 60 minutes at 20 to 26 °C and is then baked into sheets 2 mm thin at 220 °C in a rotating baking device with an embossed mould.

The sheets then lie for at least 48 hours in a humidity chamber at 40 °C and 90 % humidity, which is also produced with mineral healing water. There they are laid out and weighted using a special method so that they become evenly moist and do not warp. For the filling, the ingredients are ground to a fine powder and sprinkled by hand at most 1 mm thick onto the lower sheet; covered with the second sheet, everything is baked together on rotating baking racks without embossing at 180 °C. At least the mixing of the batter, the baking, the storage in the humidity chamber and the baking together take place in Karlovy Vary.

Origin & history

The area is the spa town of Karlovy Vary. The first evidence of the wafers dates from the middle of the 18th century: the oldest surviving tong-like wafer moulds, now in the Karlovy Vary museum, and a mention in 1788 in the book “Karlsbad, Beschrieben zur Bequemlichkeit der hohen Gäste”. At first they were baked at home; a first known wafer bakery probably existed around 1810 in a hotel kitchen.

Bakeries specialising in wafers only emerged in the second half of the 19th century. In 1904, 22 bakeries in Karlovy Vary together made about 4 million wafers a year; in 1939 there were 26 specialised businesses. After the Second World War about half continued to operate under state administration; from nationalisation in 1948 until 1989 the wafers were baked in a state enterprise in Karlovy Vary. After that, the town’s producers took up the traditional method of production again. On 1 February 1974 Karlovarské oplatky were entered in the Czech register of designations of origin.