Foods that have been forgotten
In this article some old recipes about traditional food, closely interwoven with the everyday and religious life of the old Selitsa are mentioned. We ask for your understanding as some and mistakes may occur.
“Armozmu”. Juice of cabbage pickle, oil and red pepper. They used to eat at breakfast.
“Vutiropapara”. In a frying pan they fried some pieces of dry bread. Then they added “binitsa” (sour milk) they mixed it with a wooden stick until the bread got soft. This was a kind of breakfast.
“Bukuvala”. Grated bread with “urda” (a kind of sour soft cheese), which they used to put in inside a handkerchief, made of textile. Then they made a cream out of it by beating it on the knee or on a stone. It was a common dinner for children, who used to eat and sing “Ball, Ball, Bukuvala, you eat cheese and milk”.
“Skordari”. Garlic, parsley, bread and salt which they putted in a grape leaf. Then they mixed it with water, vinegar and oil. They used to eat it during the summer, along with the agricultural activities, as it was very refreshing.
“ Paspalopita”. Pie made of corn flour and various green vegetable. In a baking pan they made a layer of flour, then one of , an so on, finishing with a layer of flour sprayed with water. This food was very famous during the German conquest because of the fact that one could make it without any fat.
Forgotten foods for keeping a fast
People from Eratyra are famous for their fate and religious life. The local religious traditions still exist and most of the peoplestrictly stick to them. The respect to the religious tradition is obvious from the strict keeping of fasts, either small, or big.
Foods common during these periods were:
During the fast before Christmas they used to eat food containing vegetable oil, such as leek, cabbage, onions and dried summer vegetables (dried eggplants, tomatoes, spinach, okra). Beans were kept for the fast before Easter, since they could be preserved kept for much longer.
In every house, one could find in the basement big pitchers full of sour vegetables such as peppers, eggplants, cabbage, cucumbers and green tomatoes. In the pitchers they used to put “stafiliarmia” and “gortsiarmia” Every house had two pitchers of stafiliarmia. One was opened before Christmas and one before Easter.
Stafiliarmia was made of the juice of grapes (mustos), together with “sinapi” and grapes. The grapes were preserved fresh and sweet. In the same way the gortsiarmia was made. Instead of grapes, pears were used.
With the juice of grapes (mustos), women made in October “petimezi”, a food that children used to eat on bread. They used petimezi in preparing “sutzukia”, “mustopita” as well as in boiled corn so as to make “katsiamaka”.
All tha sub-products of grape were eaten during the fast. With the “petimezi” they prepared small sweets, which were used in serving visitors. They used walnuts, a spoon of “mustopita” and they let it get cold. Every sweet was wrapped in flour. Sugar was expensive and difficult to find. So, they used instead of sugar products that they produced on their one.
Grapes were kept for the fast. They used to hang them in the basement on a wooden beam so as to be preserved.
During the fasting periods visitors were served sweets (pumpkin, pelte, apricot, eggplant) boiled corn, papuskes, mustopita, boiled or roasted quinces.
The lunch or dinner of the fasts included:
– Meals with leek: rice with leek, sour leek and leekballs.
– Meals with cabbage: rice with cabbage, sarmades.
– Meals with potatoes: Potato soup, potato cream with walnuts, potatoes with onions, potatoballs and potatoes roasted in the oven.
– Soup with “Dosnitsia”. Dosnitsia were prepared by the women with flour and water. They mixed the flour with water and then they made with it tiny balls. Then they dried them and used them in soups.
“Krasopapara” (bread soaked with wine) should also not be omitted as it was very famous during the fasts, as well as“ladopapara’ (bread soaked with oil), and “armozmu”( Juice of cabbage, oil and red pepper)
