The late nineteenth and early twentieth century recipes that appear in women’s newspapers and magazines and personal cookbooks introduced western (mostly french) elements into Greek home cooking. The following recipes reflect foreign influences on Greek sweets.
Strawberries with cream: We take as many strawberries as we like. We wash them well and we strain them. We place them in a soup-tureen, we sprinkle them with sugar and a little cognac and we cover them with whipped cream or cream chantilly. We serve them on plates. 1929, Tselementes Nik., Oδηγός Μαγειρικής και Ζαχαροπλαστικής.
Strawberry cream: Wash and cut 1 k. strawberries and mix them with enough milk. Bring to a boil. Strain well – you need only the juice. Let milk cool. Beat 5 egg yolks and add some sugar. Stir well. Mix eggs with milk and simmer stirring until thick. Garnish with whole strawberries. (Anna Kandilieri) Compare: Strawberry (normal version) www.medievalcookery.com/notes/strawberye
But. Greek cuisine had Ottoman influences, too.
Strawberry peltes: The word pelte or peltes derives from turkish pelte, which derives from persian palude = strained.
The fruit jelly known as pelte was one of the most popular preserves of Royal Ottoman Cuisine. It also became a part of the repertoire of the Greek sweet dishes which were offered to the visitors. Today it is rarely consumed.
1 kg strawberries
3 cups water
granulated sugar
2 ts lemon juice
Wash strawberries well and slice them into a preserving pan. Add 2 cups water. Boil for 30 minutes. Add one more cup of water, bring to the boil and simmer gently for 1 hour.Take a large piece of cheese cloth and drape it over a deep bowl. Pour strawberries and liquid into the cloth, tie the cloth and suspend it over the bowl. The juice will drip into the bowl. After 24 hours, measure the juice. For each cup of juice measure 1 cup of sugar. Stir over heat, add lemon juice and bring to the boil.
Boil for ½ half an hour, skimming frequently. Test a teaspoonful of pelte on a chilled plate. Leave to cool. Remove pan from heat while pelte is being tested quite firm. Pour hot pelete into sterilized jars and seal them.
The quince pelte was once the most popular preserve for any Greek housewife to have in the cupboard.:)
my mother in law used to make quince pelte – i think it was the only ‘jam’ kind of preserve she made