NAMES OF FRUIT DELICACIES IN POLISH
Beautiful Polish golden autumn (Indian summer) has started (check here to find out where this name came from) and trees change their colour from green into yellow, red and brown. This is a perfect time for walks or for courses of Polish as a foreign language (alright, there always a good time to learn Polish;-)). And of ocurse, it’s time to make some preserved fruit products (przetwory) , such as dżemy (jams), konfitury (preserves), powidła (plum jam)... And now! Here’s the question: What is the difference between dżem and konfitura? Are these words synonyms, or do they describe completely different sweet products made from fruit?IN FACT THEY’RE NOT THE SAME
They are definitely not synonyms, and the multitude of names in Polish comes from the difference in their taste and ... the preparation process.Dżem is the most popular of them, of course. You can find it on a shelf in every shop in Poland, different kinds. It’s made from fruit or its parts. It’s enough to add lots of sugar to it, preferrably the so-called ‘gelling sugar’, and boil it for a long time, stirring from time to time.
Marmolada is the easiest to make (in Polish marmolada – marmalade – is a product made from any kind of fruit, not only citrus fruit). Just add equal amount of sugar to the fruit (50% to 50%), grate it, boil it and then leave it to cool. You can spread it on a slice of bread and eat right away.
If you are a gourmet, however, and love the taste of fruit without any thickeners, you should go for konfitura. You need to select fruit to make it. Only the one that looks best and tasty will be used and added to the sugar syrup prepared beforehand. Konfitury (preserves) require more effort and attention, since you should try not to damage the fruit while stirring and need to keep an eye on the temperature as it should be neither too high nor too low. At the end of the process it’s a good idea to coat the edges of the jars with cognac :) .
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| No matter which you prefer, dżem or konfitura, you will find more interesting Polish vocabulary on our FB page. |
POLISH DELICACY
Powidła (plum jam) is a real Rolls-Royce among the Polish preserved fruit products. This is a Polish speciality and it is made only from plums (the węgierka variety is the best choice, Eng. common plum). Adding sugar is not necessary. However, you need time, since it takes several days for powidła to be ready. After that we can enjoy the taste of pure fruit during winter evenings.Now that you know all these words and the differences between them you can get down to work, or simply go to the shop and simply pick a jar with an appropriate name on it. Enjoy!
