Pryanik (

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

and uk, пряник, be, пернік, Czech and Slovak: perník, Polish: piernik, Croatian: papernjak ) refers to a range of traditional sweet baked goods in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

and some neighboring countries such as

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

( pl, piernik). It is also a popular Czech and Slovak sweet. Traditionally, pryaniks are made from

flour Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many culture ...

and

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...

. While some Russian-English dictionaries translate pryanik as

gingerbread Gingerbread refers to a broad category of baked goods, typically flavored with ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon and sweetened with honey, sugar, or molasses. Gingerbread foods vary, ranging from a moist loaf cake to forms nearly as crisp as ...

ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices ...

is an optional pryanik ingredient, unlike honey. Sugar is often used instead of honey in industrial pryaniki production and modern home-cooking. Related to pryanik is ''kovrizhka'' (коврижка), sweet bread with similar ingredients. The word ''pryanik'' is from Old East Slavic ''пьпьрянъ'', an adjective from

Old East Slavic Old East Slavic (traditionally also Old Russian; be, старажытнаруская мова; russian: древнерусский язык; uk, давньоруська мова) was a language used during the 9th–15th centuries by East ...

''пьпьрь'' 'pepper', which makes it etymologically similar or related to German

Pfefferkuchen (), or , are a honey-sweetened German cake molded cookie or bar cookie that has become part of Germany's Christmas traditions. It is similar to gingerbread. Etymology The etymology of ''Leb-'' in the term ''Lebkuchen'' is uncertain. Prop ...

. In Germany, ginger was added to Christmas or Easter cookies - this is how the first gingerbread, or "lebkuchen", appeared. In France, the inventor of gingerbread is considered to be Gregory of Nikopol, who in 992 allegedly moved to this country from Armenia and taught the local monks this recipe.

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* Russian desserts Ukrainian desserts Belarusian desserts Baked goods Confectionery {{russia-cuisine-stub

See also

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