Russian medicinal sweets, which are undeservedly forgotten

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

KULAGA

Kulaga is an almost forgotten delicacy. Once - one of the most beloved in Russia. Kulaga was used for colds, nervous, heart, kidney, cholelithiasis, liver diseases. At the same time, kulaga possessed an exceptional, reserved sweetish-sourish pleasant taste.

Real kulaga is made from rye malt, rye flour and viburnum, without any additives of sweet foods: sugar, honey. The malt is diluted with boiling water, allowed to brew for 1 hour, then double the amount of rye flour is added, the dough is kneaded and allowed to cool to the warmth of fresh milk (28-25 ° C), then fermented with rye bread crust and after the dough is sour, it is placed in a heated oven (Russian) for several hours - usually from evening to morning (that is, for 8-10 hours).

In this case, the dishes are tightly closed and covered with dough for complete sealing. Kulaga is created in the process of restrained fermentation without access to air with low heating. As a result, special enzymes are formed, rich in vitamins of group B, and with active vitamins of viburnum (C and P), an amazing effect of an "all-healing" product.

Levashi

Lenten Russian delicacy: crushed berries (viburnum, mountain ash, raspberries), dried in a heated oven in the form of flat cakes. They were used as snacks for tea, mead, sbitnu, kvass, in part - as a means of traditional medicine against colds and vitamin deficiency. The aroma of summer berries - raspberries, strawberries, currants - remained in dry layers for a long time. Levash was cooked on special levash boards.

About all sorts of levasha berries. And the levashi berry blueberry, and raspberry, and currant, and strawberry, and lingonberry and all kinds of berries to do: cook the berries for a good long time, but as they boil, wipe the sieve through, and evaporate thickly with treacle, and while hovering, interfere without ceasing, so as not to burn … As it will be good thick, then pour on the boards, and anoint the board with molasses, but as soon as it sits down; in others and in third drinks. And not to sit down from the sun, to dry ino against the oven, but when it sits down - twirl into the pipes.

Domostroy

LEVASHNIKI

But if hands are not given to the owner for boredom, then he will bake special pies with Levashs - Levashniki, small, for two bites. These levashniki, baked or spun in oil, are often mentioned in the surviving lists of dishes from the 16th-17th centuries served on the table on fasting days. Levash made from berries and molasses or honey that have lost excess moisture are ideal for filling. The dough under them will not become dull, but the filling itself will slightly melt during baking, become soft and fragrant.

PASTE

Pastila is an old Russian delicacy, known since the XIV century, in the past, very expensive and difficult to obtain. Pastila in Russia was prepared from applesauce, honey and egg white. By the way, Russian pastilles have been exported to Europe since ancient times and later turned into marshmallows in France.

MAZUNYA

Sweet mass of radish with molasses with the addition of spices. Chop the radish root into small slices, and so that the slices do not touch each other, knit it up and dry it in ovens after baking bread, or in the sun. After the radish is dry, heat and sift it through a sieve, while boiling the molasses in a pot. Pour the molasses into rare flour along with spices: with nutmeg, cloves, pepper and put in the oven for two days, sealing the pot well. This mixture was called masyunya, it should be thick. In the same way, in Russia, they prepared mazyunya from watermelons, dry cherries brought from the lower reaches of the Volga to Muscovy.

KALUGA DOUGH

This is not dough, but sweetness, the recipe for which was lost during the revolution. It is only known that it was prepared from dried black rusks with the addition of honey and sugar caramel. Nowadays, we managed to find a recipe for this dough: 2 glasses of ground rye bread crumbs, 1 glass of sugar syrup, add spices - cinnamon, cloves, star anise, cardamom. Put the resulting mass in the refrigerator. In the cold, it, similar to jam, is stored for a very long time - up to three months, without spoiling.