Slovenian festive canapes and plates

Local delicacies can be the sweetest gift. This is particularly true in wintertime when we can eat more sweets and quickly burn calories on Slovenian ski slopes. It constantly smells good during the holidays in Slovenia. Families tidy everything up first and then the Christmas-New Year’s baking begins. You can watch what this family fun looks like live on Slovenia’s New Year’s festive video, while you can also pick an idea or two for your holiday menu. The baking frenzy doesn’t let up even on New Year’s Eve. Have you ever tried the traditional Slovenian potica cake or a festive canapé? Taste Slovenia!

The festive December brings a special atmosphere into Slovenian homes. This is a time when we make festive dishes. Traditionally, Slovenian housewives first start baking cookies shaped like hearts, comets and circles. But this is only the preparation for the culinary onslaught of the queen of the Slovenian festive table – the delicious potica cake. This cake can be made of various kinds of dough and more than 80 different types of fillings. The most characteristic are walnut, hazel nut, almond, honey, poppy-seed and dried-fruit fillings. You can learn about the peculiarities of Slovenian potica cake on the only Slovenian island, in the middle of the picturesque Alpine Lake Bled. The island is home to the Cake Shop (Potičnica), at which you can taste many varieties of Slovenian potica cake.

Traditionally, poprtnik, or božičnik (Christmas bread) is also found on Slovenian festive tables. It is a very old kind of ceremonial bread with richly decorated dough. It still has a particular ceremonial meaning as it remains on the table throughout the three holidays – Christmas (25 December), Three Kings (6 January) and Candlemas (2 February). As our ancestors attributed it with special powers of bringing good harvests, they used to feed a few pieces to their livestock or bury it by the edge of their fields.

During the winter, the smells of other traditional dishes also come from Slovenian pots. On colder days, local soup dishes are popular. For instance, try jota, of which several varieties are known in Slovenia. The varieties include Karst jota (on the Karst plateau, they make jota with turnips or sauerkraut and potatoes), Istrian jota (made with sauerkrout and beans, but without potatoes) and Vipava jota. When temperatures are low, it also feels good to have a matevž, named ‘medved’ (bear) in some places, a dressed dish made of cooked potatoes and beans. To see more than 170 typical Slovenian dishes and recipes, from original soups and buckwheat porridges to meat dishes and desserts, click here.

Let the magic happen in your kitchen and the taste of delicious sLOVEnia be conjured!

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