It's plum season on the outdoor markets here now. I photographed these beauties yesterday when we took a little excursion outside of town. (Yes, I picked some.....) In Serbian plums are called šlive (SCHLEE-vay) and in addition to eating them fresh, city women make plum jam, plum dumplings, and plum pies out of them. Village women make the same, while their husbands make something they prefer: šlivovica (SCHLEE-vo-veet-sa), a brandy whose alcohol content varies between 25 and 70%. It's interesting that the Serbian word for 'plum' is related to the Latin līvidus, or “bluish, bruise-colored,” from which we get livid, a word synonomous with our black-and-blue when used to describe the discoloration caused by a bruise. Pretty color anyway!Monday, August 4, 2008
Back to Belgrade with plums!
It's plum season on the outdoor markets here now. I photographed these beauties yesterday when we took a little excursion outside of town. (Yes, I picked some.....) In Serbian plums are called šlive (SCHLEE-vay) and in addition to eating them fresh, city women make plum jam, plum dumplings, and plum pies out of them. Village women make the same, while their husbands make something they prefer: šlivovica (SCHLEE-vo-veet-sa), a brandy whose alcohol content varies between 25 and 70%. It's interesting that the Serbian word for 'plum' is related to the Latin līvidus, or “bluish, bruise-colored,” from which we get livid, a word synonomous with our black-and-blue when used to describe the discoloration caused by a bruise. Pretty color anyway!
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PLUS ÇA CHANGE, PLUS C'EST LA MÊME CHOSE
I came to Belgrade, Yugoslavia in 1977 and now it is Belgrade, Serbia. I knew virtually no Serbian, but had had a half a year of Russian at ...
8 comments:
Very interesting post!
Those grapes looks so juicy! I would try everything done in Serbia made with them, even the šlivovica... :-)
Greetings
I could eat plums all day: fresh, stewed, in a pie, I don’t care!
"Louis" is plum crazy about the etymology you included with this lovely photo! ;-)
Just a beautiful photo. The light is perfect. YUM!
I'm humming the sugar pum fairy now! Yes I looove your plummy factoids!
It’s like for the Calvados I sipped this summer, I am not sure I can still drink šlivovica but souvenirs, souvenirs…
Ahh, plum dumplings with lots of sugar and fried breadcrumbs. There would always be a race to see who had the most plum pits on their plate at the end of dinner. I must make them for my son before he goes off to college in St. Louis in two weeks. Thanks for the yummy reminder. I hope I can find them in the market here in Massachusetts
What an excellent post, bibi!
I enjoyed not only the photo but also learning about the cultural background and the Serbian names with their pronunciation and origin.
I made some plum jam here last week too !
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