''Plăcintă'' () is a

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

n and

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

n traditional

pastry Pastry refers to a variety of Dough, doughs (often enriched with fat or eggs), as well as the sweet and savoury Baking, baked goods made from them. The dough may be accordingly called pastry dough for clarity. Sweetened pastries are often descr ...

resembling a thin, small round or square-shaped

cake Cake is a flour confection usually made from flour, sugar, and other ingredients and is usually baked. In their oldest forms, cakes were modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations that can be simple or elabor ...

, usually filled with

apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

s or a soft

cheese Cheese is a type of dairy product produced in a range of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk (usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats or sheep). During prod ...

such as Urdă.

Etymology

The word ''plăcintă'' comes from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

placenta The placenta (: placentas or placentae) is a temporary embryonic and later fetal organ that begins developing from the blastocyst shortly after implantation. It plays critical roles in facilitating nutrient, gas, and waste exchange between ...

,'' which means "cake", from the Greek , "flat cake".

History

As shown by the etymology of the word, the ''plăcintă'' has its origins in

Ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

, see Placenta cake. Ancient Greek bakers made bread with olive oil, herbs, and cheese. The secret of making cakes was given to the Romans during the invasion. At first there were only two varieties of cakes, called the ''libum'' and the ''placenta''. The ''libum'' was a small cake, used as an offering to the gods. As for the ''placenta'', the Romans developed the recipe as a cake made of fine flour covered with cheese, honey, and fragrant

bay leaves The bay leaf is an aromatic leaf commonly used as a herb in cooking. It can be used whole, either dried or fresh, in which case it is removed from the dish before consumption, or less commonly used in ground form. The flavour that a bay leaf ...

. Ancient Roman bakers customarily prepared a large ''placenta'' which was cut into squares to be offered for sale. This is the way that Romanians continue to prepare their ''plăcintă''. On July 6, 2022, the culture of platsynda cooking and eating in the villages of Frumushyka river valley was inscribed in the National Inventory of Elements of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Ukraine.

Traditional varieties of ''plăcintă''

* ''plăcintă cu mere'' is filled with apple. * ''plăcintă cu brânză'' is filled with sheep or cow cheese, such as telemea. * ''plăcintă cu cartofi'' is filled with potatoes. * ''plăcintă cu urdă'' is filled with ricotta and dill, or raisins. * ''plăcintă cu varză'' is filled with cabbage * ''plăcintă cu ciocolată'' is filled with

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either by itself or to flavoring, flavor other foods. Cocoa beans are the processed seeds of the cacao tree (''Theobroma cacao''); unprocesse ...

. * ''plăcintă aromână'' is filled with spinach and white cheese. * ''plăcintă dobrogeană'' is a type of plăcintă registered as a Romanian protected geographical indication (PGI) product in the European Union. * '' plăcintă clătită'' (), nowadays simply called ''clătită'', is the Romanian

crêpe A crêpe or crepe ( or , , ) is a dish made from unleavened batter or dough that is cooked on a frying pan or a griddle. Crêpes are usually one of two varieties: ''sweet crêpes'' () or ''savoury galettes'' (). They are often served ...

-like variety of pancakes, also known in other East and Central European countries as the ''

palatschinke Palatschinke (plural palatschinken) is a thin crêpe-like variety of pancake of Greco-Roman origin. The dessert is common in the Balkans, Central and Eastern Europe. History and etymology The dish is of Greco-Roman origin.. In 350 BCE, the a ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Placinta Romanian pastries Moldovan cuisine Ukrainian pastries Street food Stuffed dishes Intangible Cultural Heritage of Ukraine

Etymology

History

Traditional varieties of ''plăcintă''

See also

References