Russian love their desserts, and that’s completely obvious. A lot of Russian desserts have invented after a specific event or during the Soviet’s food shortage. Russian beverages and desserts have created the way that they would prepare your body for severe weather, and that’s because of the cold environment and hard winters in Russia. There is an incorrect stereotype about Russia that only heavy alcoholic drinks can be found on their restaurants’ menu. We propose Kvass to prove that assumption is wrong.
Kvass is the Coca-Cola of Russia, and it’s one of the healthiest Russian drinks with a high-level of vitamin B. This traditional drink mostly made from Rye bread, and it made both as alcoholic and non-alcoholic, but the non-alcoholic version is more common and recommended. Though it looks a lot like beer, Kvass has been produced decades before beer.
There are several different drinks such as soda, Kvass, mineral water, wine, and fruit juices in restaurants drink menu; but alcoholic beverages, especially vodka are still one of the preferred drinks for both Russians and tourists. You can find vodka with different flavors, or named after famous Russian people everywhere in Russia. Though vodka isn’t only for drinking, it also used in cooking as well, and you can find it in several Russian dishes’ recipes.
Vodka indeed is one of the most beloved beverages among Russians, but tea is the national drink for Russia. Some of the most well-known Russian tea-houses locate inside Sochi's National Park. Given the number of desserts and pastries that you can find there, tea-times must be delightful in Russia. One of the common desserts that served with tea in Russia is Varenye.
Varenye is a quite simple dessert since its main ingredients are fruits and sugar, and Russians love it. There are lots of diverse types of Varenye, such as the ones made out of berries, or citruses; and it serves beside the tea as something similar to jam. There is also a dry version of Varenye, which is not as popular as the original one. Though Varenye with tea alone would be a perfect combination, you can also serve it with one of the traditional pastries of Russia; Vatrushka is one of those pastries that serves beside Varenye and tea.
The recipe of Vatrushka was around in Russia for more than a thousand years, and it was very general among Slav tribes. Vatrushka is a bread that has a divers topping choice from fruits, jam, chocolate, and sugar. This Russian-favorite pastry is truly easy and inexpensive to make, yet it's easier to find them in simple bakeries instead of luxurious confectionery; unlike the Napoleon Cake, which you would find in every confectionery in Russia.
Napoleon Cake was first made a few years before the October Revolution, on the 100th anniversary of the victory over the Grand French Army in 1812. That cake was in the shape of Napoleon’s hat, and often covered in sugar powder as the sign of Moscow’s snowflakes over Napoleon’s hat. This cake is the most famous Russian dessert that made after a historical event. As we mentioned, some of the famous desserts were made after historical events, or during the food shortage in Russia; one of those popular desserts is Chocolate Salami.
Chocolate Salami named after two items that were mostly short on supply during the food shortage, and it’s made from toasted nuts and crushed milk biscuits mixed with chocolate sauce, which was a mixture of cocoa, butter, sugar, and milk. The entire thing was later placed in the fridge for hours. Though Chocolate Salami isn’t originally from Russia, during the Soviet area, it became quite popular.
Syrniki is one of the favorite Russian breakfast treats, which is a cheese pancake and topping-choices of fruits, jam, and sour cream. Unlike the American version, Syrniki pancakes are fluffy and a bit denser. Syrniki is very popular among Russian, not only as a breakfast treat, but also as dessert, though one dessert can fight Syrniki’s popularity, and that’s Morozhenoe.
Morozhenoe is Russian ice-cream and compares to its western counterparts is richer and creamer. Russians love their ice-cream; you would find a Morozhenoe push-carts everywhere in Russia. This ice-cream comes with topping-choices of fruits, nuts, jam, and chocolate sauce. We at the Star Travel Group recommend our travelers to try this ice-cream at least once in their travel to Russia.
As it’s clear, Russian desserts are not entirely met the standards of a healthy diet; and that, as we said before, is because of the severe and cold winters in Russia. These were only a tiny part of Russian treats that you read in this article; you can always ask our experts at the Star Travel Group for more information on this matter.
