Historian and gastronomic researcher Rimvydas Laužikas presented the book "From the Old Garden. Historical Recipes from Apples, from Snacks to Desserts" and introduced the event participants to ancient apple trees, apples, and recipes from apples. We even tasted one dish - R. Laužikas cooked apple soup according to the recipe of Liudvika Didžiulienė-Žmona.
When making the soup, the most important thing is to use the entire apple, right down to the seeds: the broth was boiled from the middle parts of the apples, then, after removing them, R. Laužikas added baked apple puree, seasoned with brown sugar and white wine and sour cream. The tasters sucked up the soup to the last drop – it was that delicious.
Historian R. Laužikas said that L. Didžiulienė did not even throw away the peels, but made apple vodka from them. After mixing the dried peels with arielka and sugar, "such vodka will be very good and healthy in six months," Didžiulienė's recipes state.
Did you know that:
- Now there are only two types of apples left: sweet and very sweet. In the past, apples were also bitter and sour.
- The oldest known recipe made from apples is apple cider.
- Lithuanians made coffee from everything, even apples! As R. Laužikas joked, coffee was made from anything that could be roasted to the point of coal and then ground.
- „"Don't be afraid to graft apple trees," encouraged R. Laužikas and shared the advice that it is very important that the bark of the tree and the graft touch.
