CookINPolish – Polish Food Recipes
Polish Cuisine – Hungry and Sentimental
Both elderberry and elderflowers have amazing health benefits. They are a natural remedy for cough, cold and help to improve immunity. Elderflower syrup taste also really nice, so it is also a pleasure to have such a remedy:) My friend Ewa told me few days ago, that coctails with elderflower syrup got really popular in Poland this season, so why not try it this or the other way:)
My mum used to cure her stomach aches with this young walnuts tincture. Once I was grown up, she wanted me to use it too. I hated it, it was bitter and dark, but as we say in Poland the bitter cure heals best:) I have to agree that it really worked.
Now I’m making young walnuts tincture myself and I always have at least a small bottle in the kitchen cupboard. I add honey, so it has much better flavor, I can say it’s actually a pleasure to have such a medicine. You need to wait about a year for it to mature, so you’ll be able to try it next year. Start planning now, as you need to collect young walnuts while they are still green and soft, in Poland the best time to collect them is second part of June, in your part of the world it could be different!
In my family house I am the person, who is responsible for making Dried Fruit Christmas Eve Kompot:) It is a healthy drink that is always on our Wigilia table.
It’s made of dried fruits and spices. Actually you can use your favorite dried fruits, but the core are dried apples and pears. You can change ratio of fruits and finally get the flavour that suits you and your family the best.
I also add freshly squeezed orange juice, which might be not so traditional, but makes a difference and helps me to get my favorite taste of Kompot z suszu.
I’ve made Dandelion syrup few times so far. It’s so tasty. My children like pancakes splashed with Dandelion syrup just as much as with maple syrup.
In Polish folk medicine it is know from ages as a cure for cough and a help with liver cleansing. Dandelion syrup recipe can be found in Saint Hildegard of Bingen’s books and she lived in XII century:) It is sometimes called Dandelion honey, but actually it is a syrup. Try this easy recipe for homemade Dandelion Syrup. For more immunity booster recipes check: Immunity.
Important Note: Dandelion syrup should not be used by people suffering from hyperacidity nor with dandelion allergy.
If you plan to cook natural, healthy and delicious Polish beets Borscht, for example for Polish traditional Christmas Eve, you need to prepare beets kvas/ leaven for borscht few days before. Kvas is actually a water from fermented beets.
From this amounts of ingredients you will get about 2 portions od kvas to borscht. I usually prepare more leaven. One portion I use for Borscht and the rest I refrigerate and drink everyday half a cup of it. I love this taste, it is also very healthy drink. When you drink kvas, you get vitamins, minerals and probiotics. It’s so good to your immune.
