Learn How to Make ŠLJIVKO, the Forgotten Serbian Cookie!

Today, hardly anyone even knows about Šljivko, a Serbian cookie that our great-grandmothers used to make. Made out of the freshest plums, this cookie is unbelievably tasty. And healthy! Time to learn how to make it!

First records of it date back to the time of the Ottoman rule (1459 – 1804).

For its high nutritional values and the fact that it practically couldn’t go bad, Šljivko was a strategic food of hajduci (Serbian rebel freedom fighters) as well as of the Serbian army during the Balkan wars and even the 1st World War.

Today you can hardly find it anywhere, except perhaps on the other side of a food stand owned by a kind bakica on Zlatibor or in Sirogojno where the recipe is passed on from one generation to another.

With a superior number of plum trees, Serbia can boast with the plum being its national fruit. A whole variety of products in Serbia are made from this fruit. Some of them are “slatko”, plum jam, compote and most importantly the Serbian beloved national drink – the famous Slivovitz or šljivovica.

Šljive

So, if you can’t visit these (btw. amazingly beautiful) Serbian places to get a sweet taste of Šljivko, here’s a recipe given by a kind lady in Sirogojno who specialises in making these delicious Serbian plum cookies.

The recipe:

Cook fresh plums for a very long time. Then, add a little corn meal, just enough to be able to form a cookie into a round shape. After you shape the cookies, they should be sun-dried placed over fresh cabbage leaves. At the end, wrap it in blackberry leaves and tie with a rope. The dried blackberry leaves can be used to make tea.

Source: palachinkablog.com