Despite Shrove Tuesday still being more than a month away, bakeries are already full of Estonia’s traditional seasonal cream-filled buns, vastlakuklid. Bakers believe sales are linked to snowfall.
The evening news show “Aktuaalne kaamera” reported on Friday that Estonia is once again going crazy for “vastlakukkel” and thousands of Shrove Tuesday treats have already been sold. This year, the day falls on February 17.
“It’s like this every year,” Kaire Kivirähk, a baker with 26 years of experience and head of the company Lõuna Pagarid in South Estonia, told the show. “We’ve already made and sold 4,000 buns.”
“It’s the weather that really got things going. We’ve got snow on the ground. So why not sell and make buns?” she said.
Shrovetide takes place directly before the 40-day fast known as Lent, which ends with easter. Traditionally, meat, eggs, and other richer foods were eaten during this time before the fasting period began.Â
In the past, by Shrove Tuesday, most of the meat would have been long gone. Estonians would have added whatever was left, the less desirable parts, such as pig’s feet or a pig’s head, to porridge.
Pancakes made with buckwheat flour have also been eaten on this day,
Estonian Open Air Museum catering manager Žanna Tamberg said the cream bun is a relatively recent tradition, modeled after Swedish customs and the semla.
“From the perspective of our history, kuklid are a very new thing. They started spreading sometime in the early 20th century, maybe the late 19th. And mainly among the upper classes. Rural folk were not very familiar with them,” she said.
However, today, the bun feels like an ancient Estonian Shrovetide treat. Everyone knows exactly what it is supposed to be.
“Estonians always want the classic vastlakukkel,” Kivirähk, the baker, said. “We make all of ours by hand, we do not freeze the buns, and we use only real, fresh whipped cream.”
Once, an old Swede taught her the proper way to eat a kukkel: tear off little pieces and dip them into warm milk.
These days, the bun is no longer strictly tied to Shrove Tuesday, appearing in shops and cafes long before the day itself, although the Open Air Museum still tries to keeps this tradition alive.
“I really do not support the idea of satisfying the craving for buns before Shrove Tuesday even arrives. We start a bit early because of the Kukkel Festival, but we do not want to be offering them already in January. That said, there have been cases where people have asked for kuklid in June. So, the Estonian people truly love their vastlakukkel,” said Tamberg.
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