Let’s speak about sweets today!

I would like to warn you, if you are in Russia, and someone invites you to their home, it makes sense to buy bon bons, chocolate or something like that. It is tradition in Russia if you go to someone’s home to bring something with yourself. I personally bring sweets and fruits.

 In this article I will share with you 5 interesting Russian sweets which you have to taste.  

1)

Пастила Pastila is an old Russian delicacy, known since the XIV century, in the past it was very expensive and difficult to access. Pastila in Russia was made from applesauce, honey and egg white. Incidentally, the Russian sweet pastila from old times was exported to Europe. The noble taste of this sweetness was especially liked by the French pastry chefs, and, adopting our experience, the French invented their own marshmallow variant, an elastic and airy marshmallow, adding to the recipe an impressive amount of whipped egg whites. It differs in that it has a more airy and elastic consistency.

2)

Тульсикй пряник is made in many cities of Russia, but only Tula gingerbread was widely known and became a symbol of the city of gunsmiths.

Тульсикй пряник is a confectionery product made from special gingerbread dough that is stuffed with condensed milk or fruit jam, with the possible addition of raisins, honey and nuts. To give individuality on the gingerbread, pattern is put on it. And then it’s coated with icing to make the surface smooth and beautiful.

3) Зефир Zephyr . The closest ancestor of this sweet is Russian pastila.

For zephyr we use the following ingredients: apples, sugar, beaten egg white. This is a classic. Nowdays  zephyr is prepared from slightly improved technology, which is not at all to the detriment of its taste. You can cook zephyr not only from apples, but practically from any other fruit or berry puree, even if it is not entirely traditional.

4) Птичье молоко! Russian Sweets with the original name “Bird’s Milk” became the “trademark” sweetness of the 70s in the USSR.

For the first time, sweets with a delicate soufflé began to be produced in 1936 in Warsaw. The technology was very close to making marshmallow, only eggs were not used in the recipe.

When the Minister of the Food Industry of the Soviet Union tasted these sweets in 1967, during his stay in

Czechoslovakia, on his return, he turned to the confectioners of the Rot-Front factory to create similar sweets. Since the recipe was not known, it was hardly possible to get these candies, but after many experiments, Soviet pastry-chefs found the right composition. 

As the basis for the soufflé, a new type of dough was developed – a butter-whipped semi-finished product. As a result, “Bird’s Milk”, thanks to its carefully elaborated method of preparation, became a cake which got a patent .

5) You will not find this sweet everywhere. But since I live in the South, where there are a lot of different Caucasian nationalities, I know this sweet   which is called чурчхела (churchkhela). It is made from strung nuts on a string in a flour-thickened grape juice. This Russian sweet can rightfully be called the most useful confectionery, because it contains a lot of glucose and fructose, vegetable fats, proteins, organic acids and vitamins. By the way, in terms of production time, this is probably the most expensive delicacy on my list. Drying churchkhela in the sun takes more than two weeks, and it matures in general up to 3 months.

So my beautiful students, let’s take a break and go drink tea with Russian sweets.

But after, don’t forget to discover Russian culture with me and learn the Russian language. And of course share the info which sweets are in your country below this article. It is very interesting for me and other students.