Тульские пряники
Gingerbread is a sweet pastry traditionally associated to the Russian tea ceremony. There are different kinds of gingerbread in Russia, one of the oldest is from the city of Tula.
This pastry, whose history dates back to the 9th century when it was still only made with honey, is nowadays made of spices, and it is also famous for its appearance because it looks like a rectangular tile or a flat figure, but it is molded in decorative stamps. Gingerbread is baked and eaten all year round.
The rectangular cake is made from rye flour, honey and berry juice and from the 11th century, bakers also used cinnamon, cloves, and ginger for the dough. It is more dried than baked and cooked in the oven at low heat. The Tula gingerbread differs from others because it is filled with jam. Unfortunately today Tula gingerbread is made by confectionery factories and they use condensed milk.
In the 19th century Tula gingerbread stores were opened in some European capitals and in 1996 in Tula opened a museum dedicated to the dessert.
However, many consumers have become more familiar with the industrial version that is progressively substituting the traditional one.
