Tropical Zone Gardening: First of March, first day of spring... what did you do?, 0 by goofybulb

goofybulb wrote:
I finally got a translation for today's celebration (March 9th): it's the 40 martyrs of Sebaste. Again, not planning to talk about the religious side of this. You know what I like to share with you, the fine traditions and customs of the Romanians.

In their memory, in the Romanian cuisine the cozonac takes the shape of 8, and there must be 40 such cakes, that are called "mucenici" (martyrs). This time, there is no nut filling, but each little mucenic is sunk in a syrup made of honey - (with a bit of lemon juice and rum) and then dunked in ground nuts (well, walnuts, of course, they are the traditional nut, symbol of richness and veneration). Yesss, nuts and honey, the sweet things that make any celebration a feast, and make a holiday culinary dream!

I got home quite late today, and made them, but didn't quite reached the last steps (the syrup and nut part)... well, I'll do that tomorrow.

Tradition says one should have at least 40 in the house. Or, even better, 40 to give away to others and 40 more for the family. I'll definitely give some away, since there's just the two of us in this house.

Here's shaping them...