What Russian brands are known all over the world: Tambov gammon, Vologda butter, etc

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Russia has always amazed with its generosity, folk talents, beautiful women. What about food? There are several gastronomic brands, the rights to which belong to this particular country. You can't confuse them with anything, but the taste is just delicious! Even foreigners strongly associate these sweets and products with Russia. But the inhabitants of our country do not always, because it may be corny not to know where the brand comes from.

How the artist's brother Vereshchagin made Vologda oil famous

Many people know Vasily Vereshchagin, the famous Russian battle painter, but not everyone knows that his brother, Nikolai Vereshchagin, was the founder of the Vologda Oil brand. Nikolai was a sailor, but since his body had such an unpleasant feature for the profession as rolling intolerance, he had to leave the sea business.

Thinking about what to do, he entered St. Petersburg University and graduated from the Faculty of Natural Sciences. Vereshchagin was very interested in agriculture, he began to study the history of milk production in Europe and was so successful in this that in the late 60s of the XIX century he opened several cheese dairies. Vereshchagin learned to create butter with a bright sweetish creamy taste. To do this, it was necessary to heat the cream to 85 degrees.

Only ten years have passed since the opening of the cheese dairies, and this oil has already become popular. It was produced in the village of Fominsk, not far from Vologda. Vereshchagin invited the famous Holstein buttermakers Ida and Friedrich Bohmans. Business went on, and at the beginning of the 20th century, the delicious Vologda oil was actively sold abroad. There it was called Petersburg, because it traveled abroad from St. Petersburg. It began to be called Vologda only in 1939 (decree of the People's Commissariat of Meat and Dairy Products).

Tambov ham: special recipe, amazing taste

Since ancient times in Russia, tasty products have been associated with the places where they were grown or produced. For example, St. Petersburg smelt or Lukhovitsky cucumbers. The ham did not escape this fate either. In the eighties of the XIX century, the Tambov province was famous for breeding pigs. In 1884, a note appeared in the Tambov Provincial Gazette that a certain gentleman had entered into an agreement for the supply of eighty hams to the Imperial Court in connection with the bright holiday of Easter. This is how the famous Tambov ham appeared.

A special recipe was used for its preparation. Fresh meat had to be soaked in salted water, then it was boiled with spices, after which it was the turn of smoking. Only alder chips were used to give a special aroma. As a result, the ham stopped juicy, pink, and covered with an appetizing crust. Wealthy Petersburgers and Muscovites gladly bought this delicacy for the holidays and just to feast on. After the October Revolution, the requirements for the quality of the Tambov ham were fixed by GOST.

Kolomenskaya marshmallow in a Kolomensky pot according to a special recipe

Pastila is an old Russian dessert. So that the apples did not disappear, they made this delicacy from them. Since the 14th century Kolomna has been famous for its apple orchards, and in the 18th century this place was called the best for the production of sugar marshmallows. There were even special professions - male pastillers and female pastilles. The first factory for the production of this dessert was opened in 1735 by the merchant Shershavin. It is known that even Catherine II, having visited Kolomna, enjoyed this delicious sweetness with pleasure.

The peculiarity of Kolomna marshmallow was that it was prepared not with molasses, as is customary, but with sugar, to which well-beaten egg whites were added. In order for the dessert to be ready, it had to be simmered in a special dish. This is how the name Kolomensky pot was born, which is durable and easy to manufacture.

In an old cookbook, you can find a recipe for the famous marshmallow: you should select the ripe apples, bake them in a pot, remove the seeds. After that, the ingredients were churned with sugar so that they became like foam. Then the base was developed into wooden boxes and sent to the oven. After 2 hours, the boxes were taken out, sprinkled with sugar and put back in the oven. If you wanted to achieve a special splendor of the dessert, you had to add egg whites while whipping the apples.

Merchant Peter Chuprikov in 1852 created the Candy House and received a positive review at the St. Petersburg All-Russian Manufacturing Exhibition. Today in Kolomna there is a marshmallow museum, which can be visited during a trip to this ancient city.

Tula gingerbread: not only a delicious delicacy, but also a letter, as well as a three-meter gingerbread for Catherine II

Earlier, gingerbread in Russia was called honey bread. Namely, the Tula gingerbread was first mentioned in the scribe's book in 1685. When oriental spices appeared in Russia, the delicacy was no longer called bread. Since the word "pepper" in Old Russian sounds "ppyryan", the pastry was also called gingerbread. To make printed gingerbread cookies with delicious fillings, special forms were used in Tula. They were made of wood, it could be birch, pear, linden. A beautiful embossed pattern was carved on the boards, the dough was pressed between them and sent to the oven, after which beautiful gingerbread cookies with a pattern were obtained.

The gingerbread was a good gift. It could be presented to guests at a wedding, or to a child on a name day. And that's not all, since a drawing was printed on the test, there were even special postcards or congratulations on the solemn day. When St. Petersburg was 75 years old, and this was in 1778, a gingerbread was sent from Tula for Catherine II, which weighed at least 30 kg, and its diameter was huge - three meters. Beautiful panoramas of the city were printed on the surface.

Sweets from Abrikosov, who was actually a serf Stepan

Surely many were surprised at what a funny surname Abrikosov is. Many have heard about this chocolate. In fact, the manufacture of confectionery products was not organized at all by some man with the surname Abrikosov, but by an ordinary serf peasant Stepan Nikolaev after he received his freedom in 1804. At that time he was already 64 years old.

He opened a small shop in Moscow selling jams and sweets. His sons became the successors of the business, but they did not achieve success. But the grandson Alexei, who in 1879 founded a new factory in Sokolniki, gave a successful start to the Abrikosovs' business. In 1880, the partnership "AI Abrikosov and Sons" was established.

Over time, stores appeared in many cities of Russia: in St. Petersburg and Moscow, in Nizhny Novgorod and Kiev, in Odessa and Rostov-on-Don, in Irkutsk and so on. The assortment was huge - at least 750 types of sweets were produced: sweets, chocolate, marmalade and marshmallows. In 1899, the partnership received a serious title: supplier to the court of His Imperial Majesty. The quality was appreciated.

The Aprikosovs used advertising very competently. In the cities, posters were hung, shops were amazed by the abundance of crystal and mirrors, and when buying, the buyer was presented with a calendar. The packaging was exquisite. The candies were wrapped in bright paper, velvet bags, carved wood boxes, graceful glass jars were used. Postcards, labels and candy wrappers were the fruit of the works of famous artists such as Apollinaris and Viktor Vasnetsov, Ivan Bilibin, Konstantin Somov and others. On the packages one could find a horoscope or multiplication table for schoolchildren, interesting riddles.

In 1922, the nationalized Factory was renamed the Petr Babaev Factory.

And the names of some trade marks have become common nouns in Russian: scuba gear, thermos and others. Today many of us do not even know about it.