History
In 1882 Henryk Sienkiewicz and Zygmunt Gloger travelled to the Białowieża Forest. Gloger described the journey in his book “Białowieża w albumie”, published in 1903. In it he mentioned the local lipiec, a very pale honey. Beekeeping in the Forest has a tradition reaching back to bartnictwo, the keeping of bees in tree hollows. Lipiec was one of the first Podlasie products on the list, entered in 2005.
Recipe
Honey gingerbread biscuits with lipiec
Ingredients
- 500 g plain flour
- 200 g linden honey
- 100 g sugar
- 80 g butter
- 1 egg
- 1 level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 2 tablespoons gingerbread spice mix
- 2–3 tablespoons milk
Method
- Warm the honey with the sugar and butter until melted. Do not boil. Cool to lukewarm.
- Mix the flour with the bicarbonate of soda and spices. Add the honey mixture, egg and milk and knead into a smooth dough.
- Roll out to a thickness of 4–5 mm and cut out shapes.
- Bake at 180°C for 8–10 minutes. Once baked, store in a tin. After a few days they will soften.
Where to taste and buy
You can buy honey from the Forest from beekeepers in Białowieża, Hajnówka and the surrounding villages, often by the roadside and at fairs.
Description based on the entry in the Ministry of Agriculture's List of Traditional Products. The quantities in the recipe are our own suggestion for the home kitchen. Product sheet on gov.pl →
Stay in Klejniki
Most of these flavours are within an hour's drive of our house. A kitchen with a wood-fired range is waiting, in case you feel like baking something.
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