Nuremberg has its Lebkuchen, Salzburg its Mozartkugeln — and Wiesbaden has the Ananastörtchen. It was created in 1903 at Confiserie Kunder, a family business on Wilhelmstraße running since 1898, and the name "Original Wiesbadener Ananastörtchen" is protected by patent.

The driving force was a woman: Hermine Kunder, who pushed her husband Fritz to invent something special for the city. Wiesbaden was then a spa town full of prominent guests taking the waters, so Fritz reached for the rarest, most coveted ingredients of the day — marzipan and nougat were scarce and prized, and pineapple was a genuinely exotic fruit almost no one knew. After many trials with other fruits, pineapple won out because it harmonised best with the rest. Fritz also insisted the tartlet travel well, making it the ideal gift to bring home.

For years the Ananastörtchen was part of the standard confectioner's training in Germany. Kunder now makes around 30,000 a year, and they've shipped to the USA, New Zealand and beyond.