Not only pickling and preserving, but drying (
kuivatamine) is the name of the game. The tops of old wood burning cooking stoves across Estonia are currently a colourful mosaic of drying fruits (
viljad), both agricultural and wild. (The following compound words have been broken up into their component parts to facilitate understanding.) Clockwise from the left are:
sarapuu/pähkel (hazelnut),
kibuvitsa/mari (rose hip),
viirpuu/mari (hawthorn berry),
õun, (apple, sliced),
uba (beans) and
kibuvits again. It is an exceptional year for
sarapuu- aka
metsa- (forest)
pähklid (nuts, hazelnuts) and rose hip. That also means a stellar year for stretching in the forest and crouching in clearings. It's all good for you!
Name that latch. Young people visiting this kitchen a while back began heating the
puu/pliit (wood burning cooking stove) through the door on the left. They were mistaken, since that is the
leiva/ahi (bread oven) in which you make a fire, rake the coals forward and then place the
pätsid (loaves) within. However, in order to heat the
pliidi/pealne (stovetop) and
prae/ahi ("meat oven", broiler) – the latch on the right, you must light a fire through the latched opening (
ahju/suu – "stove mouth") on the stove's right end, not visible here. Heating this kind of tile stove (
potikividest ahi) simultaneously heats the
soe/müür "warm masonry wall" behind the stove, as well as the adjacent room. Photos and text: Riina Kindlam
