Secret Gingerbread recipe puts Gorodets on the map
(9 Mar 2019) LEADIN:
The discovery of a centuries-old secret recipe has put the oldest city in the Ninzy Novgorod region back on the map.
Gingerbread has often been a feature of well-known folklore, but here in Gorodets, the gingerbread handicraft has made a revival.
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These centuries-old wooden carvings are used to make gingerbread.
Their intricate designs imprint onto the baked goods or 'pryanik' in Russian.
Just like this large carving of a rooster on display.
Anastasia Suvorova is the head of the gingerbread production at her factory called 'Gingerbread Artel of Suvorovs'.
She and her family have been running the factory for 20 years now after finding the secret recipe in their house.
They sell the gingerbread to local cafes and bakeries.
Historically, gingerbread recipes have always been kept within the family, within Old Believers family (Eastern Orthodox Christians who existed prior to the reforms of Patriarch Nikon of Moscow between 1652 and 1666). Often the Old Believers had to hire workers and in order to ensure that the recipe would not be stolen, the workers hired workers were strictly forbidden to bring any exact weighing scales inside the gingerbread factory - neither weights nor any specific measurement devices. It was strictly forbidden. All were weights were coded under the names of secret objects - stones, horseshoes, says Suvorova.
We found such a recipe in our house, and this was the beginning of our enterprise. The recipe said - three white flour stones, two molasses horseshoes, one black honey stone and so on. This is how recipes were encrypted because each gingerbread baker was proud of their own recipe and invention.
Gingerbread cookies were prepared mostly in the summer - when the berries ripened and bees were active.
Gingerbread's long shelf life meant people could keep them until the winter - when the Orthodox church celebrated Christmas and the Epiphany.
The Old Believers gingerbread patterns were said to be used as propaganda to oppose the Patriarch Nikon's of Moscow church reform.
Primarily, the families of the Old Believers were engaged in gingerbread baking, and these were so-called propaganda leaflets, which were distributed in the form of gingerbread in support of the old regime, opposing Nikon's church reform, explains Suvorova.
This led to Gorodet's gingerbread being outlawed, and in its place, their main competitor, Tula gingerbread became the region's most popular.
The oldest preserved baking patterns date back to 1775 and are kept in the museum.
In the 18th century around 85 masters produced gingerbread in Gorodets which were supplied not only to the capital St. Petersburg but also to Siberia in exchange for furs.
The price of a kilogram of gingerbread was comparable to the cost of a cow.
And the wooden carved baking moulds were even more expensive says Svetlana Yakovleva of Gorodets Historical and Artistic Complex.
The cost varied. A kilogram of (gingerbread) could cost 4 rubles (6 USD). Smaller ones cost a few kopecks, says Yakovleva.
I want to mention the price of gingerbread moulds. The cost of gingerbread moulds varied from 3 (4USD) to 15 rubles (23 USD) in silver. It was a lot of money for that time, one could buy a house, a cow, a horse for this price.
Today the Gorodestky gingerbread has become so popular a whole museum is dedicated to the treat.
The museum displays vast collections of carved moulds and gingerbreads made several centuries ago.
And the technology has not changed today.
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