Good Lifestyle

Summer is a time of heavy, but joyful days. Senocos, harvest, collecting berries, vegetables and herbs - at this time the food should have simultaneously nourish and refresh, be easy to cook and maximize the generosity of the season. Many dishes had a ritual or symbolic meaning, weaving into the tissue of the church calendar.

Kisel

In the summer, jelly cooked from fresh berries - cherries, blueberries, raspberries, currants. Sometimes it was made with liquid, like a drink, sometimes thick - to eat a spoon. In the old days, Kisel was not only a dessert, but also a healing remedy: cherry helped in the heat, blueberry - with stomach disorders, raspberry - with colds. Summer jelly was associated with childhood and holidays: a bowl of cold jelly on the porch - an obligatory attribute of Sunday dinner.

Dumplings and berries pies

Berry dumplings are a real embodiment of summer in Ukrainian cuisine. In July, dumplings were sculpted with cherries, in August - with blueberries or raspberries. They ate with sour cream or simply sprinkled with sugar. Pies with berry filling often baked to fairs and temple holidays, because such a treat was considered a symbol of generosity and hospitality. In folk songs, dumplings were mentioned as a "dish for a sweet guest."

Colder

The cold man is a cold beetroot soup that was prepared on bread kvass, beetroot broth or serum. Fresh cucumbers, green onions, dill, parsley and boiled egg made it a real vitamin charge. In the summer, in the midday heat of the cold man, there was better than any drink: he returned his strength and refreshed. In folk beliefs, he was considered a root crop, “leaving heat from the body,” so such dishes were recommended for those who worked a lot under the sun.

Fresh vegetable salads

The most popular were cucumber-semenaric salads with onions and herbs, seasoned with fragrant sunflower oil, sour cream or kvass. Such dishes were prepared quickly and served “live” foods full of vitamins. In the peasant view, fresh vegetables gave “light power” - they did not pull to bed and allowed to work in the field until the evening.

Fiber

The fiber was prepared from the cerebral - oatmeal, barley or buckwheat flour, which was pre -steamed, dried and rubbed. In the summer it was bred with cold well water or milk, adding a pinch of salt. It was the food of mowers, reapers and shepherds. It was believed that Delok “holds power in the body” and does not allow to get tired.

Shuliki

Shuliki - a sweet dish of thin wheat cakes chopped by pieces, poured with honey and sprinkled with poppy seeds. Especially often they were prepared on August 14, for Makovey. On this day, “Makovechiki” were carried into the church - bouquets of herbs, flowers and poppy heads, and at home ate shuliki, believing that Mac would bring a rich harvest and protection from troubles.

Mandriki

Mandriki - cottage cheese cakes fried in a pan or baked in a stove. In the summer, cows gave especially a lot of milk, and cottage cheese was abundant, so mandriks were cooked often. They were served with honey, berries or sour cream, sometimes they took with them to the field as a light snack. Mandriks were a symbol of summer - sunny, golden, sweet.

Matsik

Matsik is a special way to preserve meat: pieces of pork or lamb salted, rubbed with spices, sometimes smoked slightly, and then dried in a draft. In the warm season, he was indispensable: he did not deteriorate for weeks, he was taken to distant fields or on the road.

The meaning of the summer kitchen

Summer dishes of Ukrainian cuisine were not just food. They associated a person with a natural cycle: they gave coolness in the heat, energy in the midst of work and joy in the days of the holidays. Many of them entered the ritual system, accompanying the calendar dates - from Petrov Day to Savior.