Varenye (russian: варенье, be, варэнне/варэньне, uk, варення) is a popular whole-fruit preserve, widespread in

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

(

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 ...

), as well as the

Baltic region The terms Baltic Sea Region, Baltic Rim countries (or simply the Baltic Rim), and the Baltic Sea countries/states refer to slightly different combinations of countries in the general area surrounding the Baltic Sea, mainly in Northern Europe. ...

( lt, uogienė, lv, ievārījums, et, moos). It is made by

cooking Cooking, cookery, or culinary arts is the art, science and craft of using heat to Outline of food preparation, prepare food for consumption. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely, from grilling food over an open fire to using electric ...

berries, other fruits, or more rarely nuts,

vegetables Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the flowers, fruits, stems, ...

, or

flowers A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

, in sugar syrup.Варенье
Энциклопедический словарь Брокгауза и Ефрона, СПб., 1890–1907 (''Varenye'' in

Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary The ''Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopaedic Dictionary'' (Russian: Энциклопедический словарь Брокгауза и Ефрона, abbr. ЭСБЕ, tr. ; 35 volumes, small; 86 volumes, large) is a comprehensive multi-volume ...

, St. Petersburg, 1890–1907)В. В. Похлёбкин, ''Кулинарный словарь от А до Я'', статья
Варенье
', изд. Центрполиграф, 2000, (

William Pokhlyobkin William Vasilyevich Pokhlyobkin (August 20, 1923 – April 15 (burial date), 2000) (russian: Ви́льям Васи́льевич Похлёбкин, Viliyam Vasilievich Pokhlyobkin) was a Soviet and Russian historian specializing in Scand ...

, ''Culinary Dictionary'', Centrpoligraf publishing house, 2000) In some traditional recipes, other sweeteners such as

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 ...

treacle Treacle () is any uncrystallised syrup made during the refining of sugar.Oxford Dictionary The most common forms of treacle are golden syrup, a pale variety, and a darker variety known as black treacle, similar to molasses. Black treacle has ...

are used instead of or in addition to sugar. Varenye is similar to

jam Jam is a type of fruit preserve. Jam or Jammed may also refer to: Other common meanings * A firearm malfunction * Block signals ** Radio jamming ** Radar jamming and deception ** Mobile phone jammer ** Echolocation jamming Arts and ente ...

except the fruits are not macerated, and no

gelling agent A gel is a semi-solid that can have properties ranging from soft and weak to hard and tough. Gels are defined as a substantially dilute cross-linked system, which exhibits no flow when in the steady-state, although the liquid phase may still dif ...

is added. It is characterized by a thick but transparent syrup having the natural colour of the fruits.

Preparation

The making of varenye requires a careful balance between cooking, or sometimes steeping in the hot sugar mixture for just enough time to allow the flavor to be extracted from the fruit, and sugar to penetrate the fruit, and cooking too long that fruit will break down and liquefy. Some fruits with tough skins require cooking for many hours, while others are suitable for making "five-minute varenye" (russian: варенье-пятиминутка, ''varenye-pyatiminutka''). For the latter, dry sugar is spread over raw fruit in layers and left for several hours to steep into the fruit. The resulting mixture is then heated for just about five minutes. The most popular types of varenye are made from locally available berries and fruits, such as sour cherries, strawberries, raspberries, apricots and apples. In general, virtually any kind of fruit, as well as some culinary vegetables, nuts, pine cones, and rose petals are used. File:Glaswithvarenie.JPG,

Sour cherry ''Prunus cerasus'' (sour cherry, tart cherry, or dwarf cherry) is a species of ''Prunus'' in the subgenus '' Cerasus'' ( cherries), native to much of Europe and southwest Asia. It is closely related to the sweet cherry (''Prunus avium''), but ...

varenye File:Peach muraba.jpg,

Peach The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in Zhejiang province of Eastern China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and others (the glossy-skinned, non-fu ...

varenye File:Blackberry muraba.jpg,

Blackberry The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus ''Rubus'' in the family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus ''Rubus'', and hybrids between the subgenera ''Rubus'' and ''Idaeobatus''. The taxonomy of ...

varenye File:Pine Cones Jam.jpg,

Pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...

cone A cone is a three-dimensional geometric shape that tapers smoothly from a flat base (frequently, though not necessarily, circular) to a point called the apex or vertex. A cone is formed by a set of line segments, half-lines, or lines con ...

varenye

Usage

Varenye is enjoyed as a dessert and condiment, in particular as a topping for pancakes (

bliny A blini (sometimes spelled bliny) ( pl., diminutive: блинчики, ''blinchiki'', dialectal, diminutive: млинчики, ''mlynchiki'') or, sometimes, blin (more accurate as a single form of the noun), is a Russian and more broadly Eastern ...

oladyi Oladyi (russian: оладьи pl., diminutive: оладушки, ''oladushki'', sg. оладья, ''oladya'') are small thick pancakes or fritters common in Russian cuisines. The batter for oladyi is made from wheat or (nowadays more rarely) bu ...

syrniki Syrniki ( be, сырнікі; russian: сырники) or syrnyky (Ukrainian: сирники) are fried Eastern Slavic Tvorog pancakes. In Russia, they are also known as tvorozhniki (творо́жники). They are a part of Belarusian, Russ ...

), as a filling for pies (

pirog Pirog ( rus, пиро́г, p=pʲɪˈrok, a=Ru-пирог.ogg, pl. ''pirogi'' пироги ; be, піро́г; se, pirog; lv, pīrāgs, pl. ''pīrāgi''; uk, пиріг ''pyrih'', pl. ''pyrohy'' пироги; lt, pyragas, pl. ''pyragai''; ...

i and

pirozhki Pirozhki ( rus, пирожки́, r=pirožkí, p=pʲɪrɐʂˈkʲi, plural form of ; uk, пиріжки, ''pyrizhky'') are Russian and Ukrainian baked or fried yeast-leavened boat-shaped buns with a variety of fillings. Pirozhki are a popular str ...

), dumplings (

vareniki Pierogi are filled dumplings made by wrapping Leavening, unleavened dough around a savory or sweet Stuffing, filling and cooking in boiling water. They are often pan-fried before serving. Pierogi or their varieties are associated with the cuisin ...

), cakes and cookies, and as a sweetener for tea. It is also used as a

spread Spread may refer to: Places * Spread, West Virginia Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Spread'' (film), a 2009 film. * ''$pread'', a quarterly magazine by and for sex workers * "Spread", a song by OutKast from their 2003 album ''Speakerboxxx/T ...

on bread, though due to its liquid consistency it is not well suited for that. Finally, it is eaten on its own as a sweet.

Etymology, translations, and cultural references

''Varenye'' is an old Slavic word which is used in

East Slavic languages The East Slavic languages constitute one of three regional subgroups of the Slavic languages, distinct from the West and South Slavic languages. East Slavic languages are currently spoken natively throughout Eastern Europe, and eastwards to Sibe ...

in a more general sense to refer to any type of sweet fruit preserve. The word has common etymological roots with the words denoting cooking, boiling, brewing, or stewing (russian: варить, be, варыць, uk, варити). In

literary translation Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

s, especially of children's books, into Russian, the term is often used to replace less-common loanwords, such as

confiture A confiture is any fruit jam, marmalade, paste, sweetmeat, or fruit stewed in thick syrup. Confit, the root of the word, comes from the French word ''confire'' which means literally "preserved"; a confit being any type of food that is cooked sl ...

marmalade Marmalade is a fruit preserve made from the juice and peel of citrus fruits boiled with sugar and water. The well-known version is made from bitter orange. It is also made from lemons, limes, grapefruits, mandarins, sweet oranges, bergamo ...

. Examples are the translations of

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland), Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a ...

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' is an 1876 novel by Mark Twain about a boy growing up along the Mississippi River. It is set in the 1840s in the town of St. Petersburg, which is based on Hannibal, Missouri, where Twain lived as a boy. In the nov ...

, and the animated movies about

Karlsson-on-the-roof Karlsson-on-the-Roof ( sv, link=no, Karlsson på taket) is a character who figures in a series of children's books by the Swedish author Astrid Lindgren. Translated books and cartoon adaptation of the series became popular in the Soviet Union wh ...

. The same is true when translating ''from'' Russian. For instance, the making of

raspberry The raspberry is the edible fruit of a multitude of plant species in the genus ''Rubus'' of the rose family, most of which are in the subgenus '' Idaeobatus''. The name also applies to these plants themselves. Raspberries are perennial with w ...

varenie is described in

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...

's novel ''

Anna Karenina ''Anna Karenina'' ( rus, «Анна Каренина», p=ˈanːə kɐˈrʲenʲɪnə) is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in book form in 1878. Widely considered to be one of the greatest works of literature ever writte ...

'' (VI-2). In her classic translation,

Constance Garnett Constance Clara Garnett (; 19 December 1861 – 17 December 1946) was an English translator of nineteenth-century Russian literature. She was the first English translator to render numerous volumes of Anton Chekhov's work into English and the ...

refers to the activity as "jam-making". In the popular

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

children's book ''A tale about a war secret, about the boy Nipper-Pipper, and his word of honour'' by

Arkady Gaidar Arkady Petrovich Gaidar (russian: link=no, Арка́дий Петро́вич Гайда́р, born Golikov, russian: link=no, Го́ликов; – 26 October 1941) was a Russian Soviet writer, whose stories were very popular among Soviet chil ...

the

antihero An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero) or antiheroine is a main character in a story who may lack conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism, courage, and morality. Although antiheroes may sometimes perform actions ...

Little Baddun betrays his friends for "a barrel of varenye and a basket of biscuits" (russian: бочка варенья и корзина печенья; again, in English translation ''jam'' is used instead of varenye).Arkadi Gaidar, ''A Tale About a War secret, About the Boy nipper-pipper, and His Word of Honour''. Translated from the Russian by Walter May. Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1975 This phrase became an

idiomatic expression An idiom is a phrase or expression that typically presents a figurative, non-literal meaning attached to the phrase; but some phrases become figurative idioms while retaining the literal meaning of the phrase. Categorized as formulaic language, ...

for betrayal or

selling out "Selling out", or "sold out" in the past tense, is a common expression for the compromising of a person's integrity, morality, authenticity, or principles by forgoing the long-term benefits of the collective or group in exchange for personal gai ...

in Russian, similar to

thirty pieces of silver Thirty pieces of silver was the price for which Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus, according to an account in the Gospel of Matthew 26:15 in the New Testament. Before the Last Supper, Judas is said to have gone to the chief priests and agreed to hand ...

. ''— "What to do?" asked the impatient Petersburg lad. — Well, that's easy: If it's summer - peel the berries and make varenye from it; if winter - drink tea with this varenye.''

Vasily Rozanov Vasily Vasilievich Rozanov (russian: Васи́лий Васи́льевич Рóзанов; – 5 February 1919) was one of the most controversial Russian writers and important philosophers in the symbolists' of the pre-revolutionary epoch ...

, 1918, from the cycle "Embryos".

Related specialties

The more general usage of the term varenye in Russian includes a number of related local specialties.

Raw varenye

In the preparation of "raw varenye" (russian: сырое варенье, ') the heating is omitted completely. The recipes usually include grating of raw berries or other fruits and mixing them with sugar.

Dry varenye

pre-revolutionary Russia The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. The ...

, "dry varenye" (russian: сухое варенье, ') referred to a local variety of

candied fruit Candied fruit, also known as glacé fruit, is whole fruit, smaller pieces of fruit, or pieces of peel, placed in heated sugar syrup, which absorbs the moisture from within the fruit and eventually preserves it. Depending on the size and type of ...

s ( fruit confit) obtained by extracting fruits from varenye syrup and drying them.

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

(today the capital of Ukraine) was particularly famous for this delicacy.В. В. Похлёбкин, ''Большая энциклопедия кулинарного искусства'', статья
Варенье сухое (Киевское)
', изд. Центрполиграф, 2008, (

, ''The Great Encyclopedia of Culinary Art'', Centrpoligraf, 2008)Anne Volokh, ''The Art of Russian Cuisine'', Macmillan, 1983, p. 458

Similar dishes

Similar sweets are also made in

Transcaucasia The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Arme ...

and in some regions of

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

and

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

Asia, where they are called

murabba Murabba (from ar, مربى) refers to a sweet fruit preserve which is popular in many regions of South Caucasus, Central Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolit ...

. In

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

, Macedonian, and Serbian cuisines, these kinds of confections are called

slatko Slatko ( sr, / ; mk, слатко, slatko; bg, сладко, sladko; meaning "sweet") is a thin fruit preserve made of fruit or rose petals in Bulgarian, Macedonian, and Serbian cuisine. Almost any kind of fruit can be used, like wild strawb ...

, and in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

and

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

, they are known as

spoon sweets A spoon is a utensil consisting of a shallow bowl (also known as a head), oval or round, at the end of a handle. A type of cutlery (sometimes called flatware in the United States), especially as part of a place setting, it is used primarily fo ...

. In

French cuisine French cuisine () is the cooking traditions and practices from France. It has been influenced over the centuries by the many surrounding cultures of Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium, in addition to the food traditions of the re ...

, they are referred to as

s or fruits

confit Confit (, ) (from the French word '' confire'', literally "to preserve") is any type of food that is cooked slowly over a long period as a method of preservation. Confit, as a cooking term, describes when food is cooked in grease, oil, or sugar ...

References

{{portal bar, Food Condiments Food ingredients Spreads (food) Food preservation Russian desserts Ukrainian desserts Belarusian desserts