Bird's milk
Bars of bird's milk confectionery
Place of originPoland (confectionery), Soviet Union (cake)
Created byJan Wedel (confectionery), Vladimir Guralnik (cake)
Main ingredientsSugar, chocolate, powdered milk, gelatin/agar-agar

Ptasie mleczko (Polish: [ptaɕɛ mlɛtʂkɔ] ⓘ) or Bird's milk is a Central European confectionery originating in Poland. It is a small, chocolate-covered bar with a soft marshmallow-like interior.[1]

E. Wedel is one of the most recognized chocolate confectioneries in Poland, having exclusive rights for the name Ptasie mleczko. Other confectionery producers also make similar candies named differently (e.g., Alpejskie mleczko, "Alpine milk"). Nonetheless, Ptasie mleczko is often used to refer to similar candies with vanilla, cream, lemon or chocolate flavour.[2]

In Russia, ptichye moloko (птичье молоко) is both a popular candy and a famous soufflé cake. The brand was introduced in the 1960s during the Soviet era, and continues to be used by companies operating the factories which produced these candies and cakes since that time. The confectionery is also produced in other post-Soviet states.

Origin of the name

The concept of avian milk (Ancient Greek: ὀρνίθων γάλα, ornithon gala) stretches back to ancient Greece. Aristophanes uses "the milk of the birds" in the plays The Birds[3] and The Wasps[4] as a proverbial rarity. The expression is also found in Strabo's Geographica where the island of Samos is described as a blest country, to which those who praise it do not hesitate to apply the proverb that "it produces even bird's milk" (φέρει καί ὀρνίθων γάλα).[5][6] A similar expression lac gallinaceum (Latin for "chicken's milk") was also later used by Petronius (38.1) and Pliny the Elder (Plin. Nat. pr. 24) as a term for something of great rarity. The idiom later became common in many languages and appeared in Slavic folk tales.[7][8][9] In one such tale, the beautiful princess tests the ardor and resourcefulness of her suitor by sending him out into the wilderness to find and bring back the one fantastical luxury she does not have: bird's milk.[9] In the fairy tale Little Hare by Aleksey Remizov (who wrote many imitations of traditional Slavic folk tales), the magic bird Gagana produces milk.[10]

Whether any of these authors were aware of crop milk from some species of birds is unknown.

History and variations

Bird's milk produced by Rot Front (left) and E. Wedel (right)

Bird's milk was first created in 1936 in Poland by Jan Wedel, owner of the E. Wedel Company.[11][12] According to the company's official history, Wedel's inspiration for the name of the confectionery came from his voyages to France, when he asked himself: "What could bring greater happiness to a man who already has everything?" Then he thought: "Maybe only bird milk."[13]

In Russia, ptichye moloko was originally a type of confectionery introduced in 1967 in Vladivostok and in 1968 by the Rot Front factory in Moscow. It became a hit, and mass production was started in 1975 by the Krasny Oktyabr confectionery factory in Moscow.[9][14]

In Estonia, linnupiim (also "bird's milk" in Estonian) is the brand name of a similar candy made by the Kalev candy factory.[15] This candy also uses agar-agar instead of gelatin as a thickening agent and comes in three flavors: chocolate, vanilla, and lemon. In 2021, a special edition with grapefruit flavor was produced.

In Moldova, lapte de pasăre (also "bird's milk" in Romanian) is the brand name of a similar candy made by the Bucuria candy factory.[16] Despite the name, the candy is not to be confused with the Romanian traditional dessert lapte de pasăre.[17]

Bird's milk cake

A homemade bird's milk cake

In 1978, the popular candy was transformed into a cake by Vladimir Guralnik in Moscow's Praga Restaurant.[9] This was a light sponge cake filled with an airy soufflé and topped with chocolate glaze. A distinct feature of the Russian recipe is the usage of agar-agar instead of gelatin as a thickening agent which withstands the high temperature needed to melt down sugar into a syrup.[18][19] Initially, the restaurant produced trial batches of 20-30 cakes, but after six months the daily output was increased to 500 cakes.[20] The recipe was quickly copied by other restaurants in Moscow, such as Moskva, Budapesht, and Ukraina.[14] In the 1980s, a special factory for Bird's milk cakes was built in the Novye Cheryomushky district in the south of Moscow.[14] Both the cake and the candy versions of the bird's milk are widely available to this date in supermarkets and specialty stores all over Russia.

Trade marks

E. Wedel's Ptasie mleczko advertisement livery of a LOT airliner

Lapte de pasăre, Ptasie Mleczko, Ptiche moloko, and Vogelmilch are registered trademarks in the EU.[21]

In Russia, Птичье молоко is a registered trademark of Rot Front, a member of United Confectioners. Other companies have been sued for using the name, even if they had used it in the Soviet Union.[22][23][24][25]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Goldstein, Darra (2015). The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets. Oxford University Press. p. 60. ISBN 978-0-199-31339-6.
  2. ↑ Magdalena Kasprzyk-Chevriaux (2016-07-11). "Polish Food 101 ‒ Iconic Sweets". culture.pl.
  3. ↑ Aristophanes. The Birds, 1670. Pisthetaerus, a citizen of Athens, tells to Heracles: Do you want to fight? Why, be on my side, I will make you a king and will feed you on bird's milk and honey.
  4. ↑ Aristophanes. The Wasps, 508. Translated in English as "the most exquisite dishes". Greek original: 508.
  5. ↑ Daniela Dueck. Bird’s Milk in Samos: Strabo’s Use of Geographical Proverbs and Proverbial expressions. Scripta Classica Israelica, 23 (2004) 41-56.
  6. ↑ Strabo. Geographica. 14 - 1 - 15. Original text: Γεωγραφικά, ΙΔ.
  7. ↑ Птичье молоко. Фразеологизмы. Справочная служба русского языка Белгородской государственной универсальной научной библиотеки (in Russian).
  8. ↑ Александр Афанасьев. Народные русские сказки. 1855—1863. Заклятый царевич. (Alexander Afanasyev. Russian Fairy Tales. 1855—1863, in Russian)
  9. 1 2 3 4 Berdy, Michele A. (1 February 2007). "Ptichye Moloko". The Moscow Times. Archived from the original on 28 June 2011.
  10. ↑ Aleksey Remizov. Posolon (1909). Complete Works. Russkaya kniga, Russian Academy of Sciences, 2000-2002, vol. 2, p. 75 (in Russian)
  11. ↑ Dear Valentine. The Warsaw Voice. January 31, 2007. A2007021256-13D17-GNW.
  12. ↑ "Bird Milk Chocolate". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  13. ↑ "Ptasie mleczko" (PDF). Ftpsuperbrands.home.pl. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 August 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  14. 1 2 3 Mitlyng, Viktoria (May 22, 1997). "Cake Weighs Heavily in Russian Life". The Moscow Times.
  15. ↑ "Eesti suurim ja vanim kondiitritööstusettevõte". Kalev. Archived from the original on 22 December 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  16. ↑ Candies with whipped egg-white mass Archived 2018-04-09 at the Wayback Machine. Bucuria J.S.C.
  17. ↑ "Bird's Milk (Lapte de pasăre)". Entropy. 21 March 2018. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  18. ↑ Switala, Rebekah (22 January 2019). "Bird's Milk Cake: An Airy Russian Cake as Unusual as Its Name". Folkways Today. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
  19. ↑ "A Russian Fairy Tale Cake". Russia Beyond The Headlines. 25 October 2007. Archived from the original on 23 August 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
  20. ↑ "Soviet-style Soufflé: the history of "Bird's milk"". The Odessa Journal. 23 November 2021. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  21. ↑ "TMview". The European Union Intellectual Property Office.
  22. ↑ "Выемка документов идет в "Приморском кондитере" по заявлению столичных компаний" (in Russian). PrimaMedia. 11 Nov 2013.
  23. ↑ "Птичье молоко". Товарные знаки, знаки обслуживания и наименования мест происхождения товаров. Российское агенство по патентам и товарным знакам. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  24. ↑ "О товарных знаках ОАО "Рот Фронт" (с изменениями на 17 ноября 2011 года), Письмо ФТС России от 26 ноября 2004 года №07-58/8672". Docs.cntd.ru. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  25. ↑ "Законопроект депутатов ЗС ПК о фантиках дошел до Госдумы - PrimaMedia".
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