duh srbije / serbian spirit
everything, which very quickly made him nauseous. The queen laughed heartily at this misunderstanding and showed the guest by example that he should take only one teaspoon – says Violeta, laughing. How slatko should be eaten and the meaning of the spirit of this tra- dition is explained to us by art histo- rian Marina Lukić Cvetić, a woman who is filled with love for intangible cultural heritage and who will dedi- cate the slatko in her house to a mu- seum! She will open her salon to vis- itors, where there has been a closet with jars of slatko and quince in the same place for more than a century. Marina explains that the custom is to offer slatko to guests, as an ex- pression of deep affection and as a warm welcome, served on a tray with two glasses. In one is served large and bright fruit, while in the second are dark and small fruits. Thus, the best combination is two types of slat- ko that Marina says are the most pop- ular in Serbia - quince slatko in one glass and cherry slatko in the other! Prior to serving slatko, fruit in honey was served, which arrived in the Serbian medieval kitchen from Byzantium. With the discovery of sugar and its industrial production, compotes began being prepared in the Mediterranean, thus, apart from Serbs, slatko was produced by Greeks, Aromanians, Jews, Macedo- nians and Bulgarians. The northern limits of this custom are represented by the rivers Sava and Danube, so in Vojvodina they used fruit to make compotes, as opposed to slatko. And so it was until the mid-20 th century, when the custom of preparing and serving fruit slatko was taken over by the rural population, such that it is now more commonly prepared in villages than in cities. In the ear- ly 1970s it was replaced by candied sweets, while today it is only manda- tory to serve coffee, which is poured into increasingly larger cups. The small works of art that were cups of the finest porcelain, served with slatko, have been consigned to his- tory and museums. Even Serbia’s queens were known for personally adding fruit to sugary syrup in their palaces
increasingly rare for him to meet a host who offered him honeyed fruit, so he concluded from Belgrade’s la- dies that slatko had been expelled from the city, banished to some dis- tant periphery. And he, just like Ka- por, spoke about that with fond re- membrance, just as we always talk about something that we remember for its beauty that has been left be- hind us forever. And the custom of welcoming a guest with slatko and a glass of iced spring water, and only then with cof- fee and homemade rakija brandy, was characteristic of urban homes all the way until the mid-20 th centu- ry. Even Serbia’s queens were known for personally adding fruit to sugary syrup in their palaces, and they even knew how to joke with important for- eign guests who did not know how slatko is consumed. Ethnologist at the National Mu- seum in Kraljevo, Violeta Cvetanos- ka, recalls that Princess Ljubica in Ljubičevo, while Duke Miloš was staying in Kragujevac, as a “supreme hostess”, mixed, kneaded and baked bread, and cooked slatko. She also re- calls an amusing story that occurred in the presence of Queen Natalija Obrenović... - A famous painter who was sup- posed to do the Queen’s portrait came to visit. As he later wrote himself, he was immediately served with “that ex- cellent compote that in Serbia is called slatko”. And then the trouble arose, be- cause the man thought he had to eat QUINCE SLATKO Ingredients: 1 kg of peeled quince, 1.25 kg of sugar, 400 ml of water Preparation: Place the sugar and water in a bowl and cook the syrup a little more watery than usual. Peel and grate or finely chop the quince, and immediately add to the syrup. Cook to the desired density. While it is still hot, pour into clean, heated jars, seal and store in a cool place.
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