KOBE, Japan >> As Christmas approaches, about 40 bakeries are selling their versions of stollen, a traditional German fruit bread, at a new event in Kobe.

A popular bread for the period before Christmas, stollen originated in Germany, but it was first introduced in Japan in Kobe before it spread throughout the nation.

At the Hyogo Stollen Fest 2018, the first event of its kind in Japan, visitors can compare the creations of bakeries in Kobe to versions from the rest of the country. The event will be held through Christmas Eve.

“I want visitors to become more familiar with Kobe’s stollen culture,” a promoter of the event said.

Beginning in early December as people start preparing for Christmas, Germans traditionally share stollen with close friends and family, cutting a loaf into small pieces. Its fermentation continues after baking, causing flavors in the loaf to evolve.

Freundlieb in Chuo Ward, Kobe, was the first shop in Japan to make stollen. It has become the shop’s best-selling product since it opened in 1924, with Freundlieb baking about 40,000 stollen loaves for the Christmas season.

In Germany, the recipe for stollen is established by law: flour must be mixed with dried fruits equivalent to at least 60 percent of the flour and butter equivalent to at least 30 percent of the flour. Members of Japan’s Hyogo Union are baking stollen in much the same way.

The Hyogo Stollen Fest 2018 was co-organized by the Kobe Tourism Bureau and the Hyogo Stollen Union, comprising nine shops, including Freundlieb.

“I hope many people will enjoy eating stollen, and we want to continue (holding this kind of event) as a seasonal Kobe tradition,” said Yoshitsune Heinrich Uehara, the union’s representative.