What is Gdansk Milk?
Let’s start by looking at the oldest recipe for this treat, found in the first Polish cookbook – Compendium Ferculorum by Stanisław Czerniecki, published in 1682. The recipe seems incredibly simple, consisting of only three ingredients, and its preparation is briefly described in two sentences. The ingredients are: “blanched” almonds, fine sugar, and thick cream – all of which should be whipped together and served. So, the famous Gdansk milk is nothing more than whipped cream flavored with almonds. The recipe may seem trivial, but there’s a deeper meaning hidden in the individual ingredients. Let’s start with the cream, the base ingredient of the dish. Today, due to its high calorie and fat content, it’s considered a dietary faux pas. However, in the past, it was something special – available seasonally, expensive, and a delicate treat. A dessert made from it was therefore a rare and exceptional pleasure. Next are the almonds, which for us are quite common, but in the 17th century, they were an exotic, colonial product available only to the wealthy. This is another reason to consider the famous Gdansk dessert a luxury. The cherry on top is white sugar, which today is ubiquitous, added to everything, and often criticized, but in the past, it was a modern and fashionable spice with a high price.
All these elements come together to create a decadent and symbolic dessert, meant to delight the taste buds while also highlighting the social status of the consumer. Today, when preparing Gdansk milk, we rely on a recipe from a much younger book by N. Bojarska, titled Dobra wieść, niosą jeść (Good News, They Bring Food), from 1979. This book tells the story of traditional Polish cuisine from the Middle Ages to the time of the author. Importantly, it provides precise proportions of ingredients, which we cannot expect from old Polish cookbooks. It was this recipe that served as the basis for adding Gdansk milk to the list of traditional products in the category “Bakery and Confectionery Products” in the Pomeranian Voivodeship in 2008. Although today it no longer so clearly emphasizes the wealth of the consumer, it is worth trying and savoring the sweet taste of old Gdansk luxury.
You can learn more about Gdańsk milk on the Smaki Gdanska vlog.