Yes, in winter we want more and tastier coffees, more aromatic teas, more sweetness, more spices, more warmth and more comfort, even if we don’t miss them in other seasons.
Long evenings and deserted streets make it possible to finally open that book you’ve been waiting for since spring, to learn the rules of a new board game, to gather friends for dinner and to try new ways of pampering your body and soul.
Not so long ago, our ancestors spent their winter evenings doing things and playing games they could not imagine life without. It was a time to catch up, to see each other, to tell stories and family histories handed down from generation to generation. Handicrafts and games around the shoulders were the strongest force that could bring the family back together, something that might have been lacking at other times of the year when all attention was focused on field work.
“My mother used to knit gloves and socks and give them to my father to roll. They would pour hot water into a bucket, dip them in it and when they pulled the hot water out, they would kick it hard with both hands on the bench, dip it in the hot water again and pull it out again… This made the knitted fabric thicker, stronger and warmer. The children’s jobs were to water the cows, fetch firewood and light the shoulders. At the beginning of winter we used to ferment cabbage, a whole bunch of it. My mother and I would clean the cabbage, cut out the cores, grate the carrots, and my father would peel it (cut it with a special tool) and press it into a barrel.
When it snowed a lot, my father would make skis for my mother and her brothers, and we children would go sledding down the hill,” Viktorija recalls, adding that when she went to her grandmother’s house, she did other things that were no different from her mother’s childhood – we plucked geese and stuffed pillows, we weeded beans and “helped” with spinning.
After work, buckwheat pancakes and acorn coffee with honey were the crowning glory of winter cosiness. My grandmother would boil the acorn coffee in milk, strain it and pour it into large ceramic mugs, already warm from the stove.
It is this taste of real winter that I try to recreate – every time I roast acorns, I remember my grandmother and feel very grateful for this part of me. The cosiness of childhood still helps to overcome not only the darkness of the short days, but also the rollercoaster of life,” says Viktorija, inviting us to remember the magical calm of our childhood winters.
Acorn coffee is made from Lithuanian oak acorns, which are boiled, ground and roasted in the same way as they were hundreds of years ago in Lithuania and throughout the region. The wild acorns are gently and slowly roasted until they take on the luxurious flavour of milky caramel.
There are two ways to make acorn coffee:
- by pouring one teaspoon of coffee per cup into boiling water or milk and simmering for 5-7 minutes until the grounds swell. After straining, pour into cups, whiten with milk and sweeten to taste.
- If you are in less of a hurry, pour a teaspoon of cold milk over a cup of cabbage and bring to the boil over a low heat. Leave to simmer for a few minutes, then skim, cool, bleach and enjoy.
And if you’ve already tried acorn coffee, try dandelion, burdock, chicory or roasted carrot coffee – each with its own aroma, flavour and mood. It’s not hard to find the key to your own winter comfort, you just have to allow yourself to search, remember and… share.
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