The first confection. Development of the confectionery industry in Russia. Development of the Russian gas industry

The roots of the history of occurrence confectionery go far into antiquity. Sweets first appeared in Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and the Middle East, and then in Italy, quickly spreading around the world thanks to their unsurpassed taste.

In those distant times, confectionery products were not as diverse as they are today, but they were available only to very rich people. Since sweet delicacies were not produced everywhere, sailors and merchants had to follow them on dangerous and long journeys to the East.

It is the oriental confectionery that is still famous for its originality, uniqueness and great variety. Today, all the various sweets from any corner of the world can be bought even in a small provincial town.

The first to enjoy the taste of sweets were the ancient Greeks and Egyptians. The very first are considered candies of ancient greece made from honey and a wide variety of fruits. In Egypt, dates were the main component of these sweets.

According to history, the Egyptians invented candy by accident, mixing nuts, honey and dates. Until the 20th century, candy was usually made at home with molasses, maple syrup and honey, and ginger frosting and toffee root were used to make candy.

Also one of the most ancient sweets is marmalade. It was first made in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East during the Crusades. Ancient greek recipes This delicacy testifies to the fact that in the preparation of marmalade, evaporated and then condensed fruit juice was used. Only in the 16th century did fruit sweets appear in Europe, thanks to cheap American sugar.

But the most popular confectionery today is chocolate... Chocolate appeared in Mexico, and the first European to taste chocolate was Christopher Columbus in the 16th century. When Columbus landed in America, the Indians first of all presented him with a cup of dark chocolate .

But he could not appreciate the drink at its true worth, only the conquistador Cortez from Spain paid due attention to the wonderful taste of the cocoa drink. Thanks to this, chocolate spread throughout Europe and conquered it. But sweet delicacies are not the only ones with unsurpassed taste.

Sweets made from natural fruits and cocoa powder are rich in vitamins and minerals necessary for health. For example, the first chocolate candies invented by a Belgian pharmacist trying to get a cough medicine. Therefore, natural confectionery is both tasty and healthy.

The history of flour confectionery, like sugar confectionery, goes back to ancient times.

The main confectionery product of Ancient Rus was honey gingerbread. The first gingerbread in Russia were called "honey bread" and appeared around the 9th century in Kievan Rus, they were a mixture of rye flour with honey and berry juice, and honey in them made up almost half of all other ingredients. Later, forest herbs and roots were added to "honey bread", and in the 12th - 13th centuries, when exotic spices brought from India and the Middle East began to appear in Russia, the gingerbread got its name and almost completely took shape in the delicacy that we know ... Russian gingerbread was an invariable belonging to all social strata - from the tsar's table to the poor peasant hut. He also lived in the landlord, bureaucratic, merchant environment. The taste variety of Russian gingerbread depended on the dough, and, of course, on spices and additives that were called "dry spirits" in the old days, among which the most popular were black pepper, Italian dill, orange peel (bitter orange), lemon, mint, vanilla, ginger , anise, cumin, nutmeg, cloves.

In Russia, there were three types of gingerbread, which got their name but the technology of their production. These are molded gingerbread (they were molded from dough, just like toys from clay), a printed gingerbread (they were made using a gingerbread board, or "gingerbread", in the form of a relief print on the dough) and a silhouette (cut or cut) gingerbread (for them production used either a cardboard template or a stamp from a tin strip, with the help of which the silhouette of the future gingerbread was cut from the rolled dough).

In the XVII - XIX centuries the gingerbread business was a widespread folk craft. Each locality baked its own gingerbread cookies according to traditional recipes, and the secrets of making were passed down from generation to generation.

The masters who were engaged in gingerbread production were called gingerbread. Gingerbread was made for the poor and the rich, for gifts and name days. They were brought to relatives and lovers, baked for a complex wedding ceremony, festive meals, distribution to beggars, memorial services. They were even credited with medicinal properties, and then the gingerbread, intended for the sick, were prepared and decorated with great care, and the letters corresponding to the initials of the guardian angel were carved on the reverse side. And small-sized gingerbread was used for the game. The winner in the competition was not only the one whose carrot flew farther than others, but also the one whose carrot remained unharmed, falling to the ground.

The wide variety of rituals of Russian life was matched by the variety of gingerbread products. On the occasion of big celebrations, special gingerbread cookies were baked, which were called "tray" or "healthy". They not only amazed with their size (from 50 cm to 1 m or more) and weight (from 5 to 15 pounds, and in some cases up to 1 pound), but also stood out for their special sophistication and complexity of the drawing, as well as the high style of the inscriptions , for example, "Og all my conscience I give to your mercy" or "Hail Russian two-headed eagle, you are now glorious all over the world." Double-headed eagle, tent-roofed towers, figures of lions, unicorns, sturgeons, Sirin birds - these are the most popular plots of "tray" gingerbread. Considering the weight and size of the "custom" gingerbread, they were delivered on horseback with extreme caution, since it was not an easy task to deliver such a gingerbread without breaking it on the way.

No less interesting is the history of the origin of crackers. Cracker like the new kind cookies appeared in North America around the middle of the 18th century (1792). Baker John Person, Massachusetts, created crispbreads from flour and water. They are called "biscuits" or "sea biscuits". But the real cracker was born in 1801 when another baker, Joseph Bent, overexposed a batch of cookies in the oven. The sounds made by the burnt biscuit gave it its name. The name "cracker" was formed from the English onomatopoeic verb "to crack" - "to crack",

"Pop". For the army and travelers, dry biscuits turned out to be indispensable: they were convenient when

transportation and storage, had a lower moisture content than flour. Crackers were especially fond of sailors, using them with fish soup. In the first crackers, holes were made by hand, using knives, forks and special "punches" made of cast iron. In the United States, there was even such an opinion that there should be exactly 13 holes in the "correct" cracker, which corresponded to the number of the first states to enter the state. But this fact could not be proved, so it would be more correct to say that the number of holes and their location on the cracker depend only on the size of the cookie.

An incredibly popular confection with various fillings is called a muffin. The history of the emergence of cupcake goes back to the days of existence Ancient Rome, during the development of which it was customary to mix pomegranate, nuts, raisins and many other ingredients in barley puree.

The muffin got its name in the Middle Ages thanks to the combination of the old French "Frui" - fruit and the English "Kechel" - pie. Today modern English has an analogue word "Cakes", which means "cakes". According to the modern recipe for making a cake, it is usually baked from yeast or biscuit dough. The most common fillings are any nuts, dried fruits, jams, preserves, fresh fruits, and even vegetables.

Historians argue that a special distribution given view received a dessert in the 16th century. Experts associate this phenomenon with the appearance granulated sugar, which was supplied from the American colonies and contributed to the long preservation of fruits. Thanks to this, muffins became a favorite dessert in many European countries, so the traditional ingredients of this dish soon appeared. Over the centuries, the cake recipe has evolved to suit muffins, adits, biscuits, etc. In general, it is believed that the best size for a cake is a small round product that can hold one cup of hot tea or aromatic coffee.

The waffle story began so long ago that no one can remember and name the exact date and place of this grandiose birth of a delicious confectionery. The real waffle boom began from the day when the real waffle iron was born, which was invented by an American named Cornelius Swarghout, a resident of New York.

Back in 1869, on August 24, this man presented his creation to the public - a frying pan for baking waffles. It consisted of two parts that were connected to each other. They had to be heated over coal and turned over. This date marked the beginning of the waffle era. And now Americans have a real holiday in their calendar - Waffle Day.

It is assumed that the inhabitants of Ancient Greece, as well as the Germans, baked waffles. Several sources point to the origin of waffles in the 13th century. And in the XV-XVI centuries, only people of noble birth could afford waffles. This delicacy was considered very expensive, and its recipe was not disclosed.

As for America, even before the invention of the waffle iron, waffles were there in the 17th century, when the Dutch moved to this country en masse.

The word "waffles" comes from the German "Waffel", which means "cell" or "honeycomb". Indeed, waffles, especially those cooked in a waffle iron, resemble a honeycomb in structure.

The word "waffles" was originally written "wafles" with the use of one letter f. Then the popularity of this confection grew and it was time for the waffle recipe to appear in the first cookbook. In 1735, on the pages of culinary publications, one could read the English word, as it has survived to this day, "waffles". Since then, English waffles have been spelled that way.

How Waffle Day is celebrated in America.

Let's go back to the waffle holiday that Americans celebrate every year. On August 24, all those who consider themselves fans of waffles go to restaurants serving this delicacy. Restaurants offer waffles with various syrups and fillings. The most common syrup is maple.

Those who want to enjoy waffles to the fullest, and even treat loved ones, bake waffles at home using electric waffle makers. Here, the imagination of gourmets is unlimited. You can use this confection with any filling. Americans enjoy waffles all day long.

Today waffles are a traditional delicacy of many nations. They are made in huge quantities every day. Waffles are especially revered in Holland. There they are called "Stroopwafel", or scrub waffles, in translation - "syrup waffles". They are prepared from two the thinnest layers dough, which are baked with caramel filling.

In the 18th century, Baba Au Rhum appeared, which we owe to the famous French chef Brija-Savarin. He invented a special rum syrup, which he infused with "babu", and called his treat Baba Au Savarin. The dessert gained great popularity in France, but the name stuck to the one that we still know - "Rum baba".

The inventor of this dessert is considered the Polish king Stanislaw I Leszczynski (1677-1766), great-grandfather of the French kings Louis XVI and Louis XVII.

Due to the difficult political situation of that time, Stanislav experienced a lot of bitterness and sadness. To fight them, he needed to eat something sweet every day. The confectioners of Lorraine racked their brains every day to cook something new. But they still lacked imagination, and so they often served the popular at the time "Kugelhupf" - a sweet dish typical of the area, made from wheat flour, butter, sugar, eggs and raisins. Yeast was also added to the mixture to make the dough soft and spongy. Stanislav could not stand the Kugelhupf for long. Not that it was tasteless, but, in the opinion of the king, “stupid, devoid of individuality. And also dry. So dry that it clung to the sky. "

The history of the origin of cakes began about two thousand years ago. The exact date is unknown, because the question remains unresolved, what ingredients are included in this cake. The recipe for some of the earliest cakes was a combination of flour, honey, nuts, eggs, milk, and other ingredients. Only after they were baked were fruits added. Flour is the ego's main ingredient that made cake baking possible. The Greeks were the first to come up with this idea. Archaeologists have found unpretentious cakes made from crumpled grains in Neolithic villages. They were first moistened and then boiled. Since the 1900s, cake recipes have become much more complex. A large number of types of flour and methods of processing it, methods of kneading dough - all this made the cakes the way they are today.

For some time the words "bread" and "cake" in Europe were close in meaning and easily replaced each other. To make the dough fit, it was kneaded with yeast, as now. Then, for the same purpose, they began to use eggs as the initial leaven. The earliest bakeware was a regular round-shaped pan without a bottom. The bottom at that time was wax paper. Later, the pots had the same round shape, but with a bottom. This is how the baking dish was born. The next big improvement in bargaining recipes was the invention of soda and baking powder.

Although today it is impossible to say with certainty where and who invented the cake, some culinary historians are inclined to conclude that the first prototype of the cake originated in Italy. Linguists believe that the very word "bargaining" in translation from Italian means something florid and intricate, and associate it with numerous cake decorations from a scattering of various colors, inscriptions and ornaments.

Whatever the opinion about the origin of the first cakes, one cannot but agree with the statement that France is the trendsetter in the world of dessert. It was there, in small coffee shops and cafes, that once appeared, the cake conquered the whole world. It was the French chefs and pastry chefs who dictated the trends in serving and decorating this sweet masterpiece for many centuries. It is not surprising that in this country of love and romance the most famous names of desserts have appeared, which are still pleasing to our ears: meringue, cream, caramel, jelly and biscuit.

Nevertheless, regardless of who invented the cake, each country has its own traditions and recipes for baking this dish.

Cakes are prepared for special occasions, each with a different form and content. A lot of curiosities and interesting facts associated with cakes. Some of them have even been recorded and entered into the Guinness Book of Records.

In Russia, the concept of bargaining did not exist for a long time, but there were wedding loaves - the most festive and elegant pies. Such loaves were called "bride's pies". "Bride's Pie" was made only in a round shape. This is also due to the fact that our ancestors put a certain meaning in this form. The circle symbolized the sun, which means well-being, health and fertility. The wedding loaf was richly decorated with various plaits, braids and curls. Sometimes figurines were placed in its center, which denoted the newlyweds: the bride and groom. It was customary to serve the cake at the very end of the celebration; it served as a kind of sign for the guests.

Currently, the range of flour confectionery products is diverse and meets the needs for different types, varieties and names. The consumer can choose products of various brands and manufacturers.

According to the State Statistics Committee of the Russian Federation, there are currently more than 800 manufacturers of flour confectionery products in Russia, not counting small private enterprises.

JSC "Bolshevik" (Moscow)

Bolshevik OJSC is the largest manufacturer of flour confectionery products in Russia. Estimated " Business analytics", The company accounts for 13.5%

biscuit production and 8.6% of waffle production in Russia. The annual production volume is more than 60 thousand tons of products. The main trade marks are Yubileinoe cookies, Prince cookies and waffles, and Prichuda wafer cakes. The company is controlled by Kraft Foods.About 70% of the sales of products are in Moscow and the Moscow region, the remaining 30% - in other regions of Russia (Kaluga, Voronezh, Krasnodar, Nizhny Novgorod, Saint Petersburg, Rosgov-on-Don, Samara, Saratov, Togliatti, Tula, as well as the Ural and Siberian regions). In addition, the company is developing a sales network in the CIS countries. The company plans to expand the range of its products, first of all, chocolate-wafer cakes, waffles and Yubileinoe cookies.

OJSC Fazer, (St. Petersburg)

Fazer is the largest bakery in St. Petersburg, controlling approximately 20% of the region's bakery market. Fazer's largest shareholder is the company Fazer Bakeries Ltd(Finland), which owns 90% of the company's shares. The plant is a monopoly of the North-West region but bakes gingerbread. The main trade mark is Chocolate gingerbread. The company's immediate plans include expanding the range and improving the quality of products. For this, in 2002, the company acquired stakes in OJSC Vasileostrovsky Khlebozavod, which allows it to manufacture products long terms storage, and OJSC Khlebozavod Murinsky, in 2005 the company bought out a controlling stake from OJSC Zvezdny. In 2009, the controlling stake in the enterprise BKK "Neva" was transferred to OJSC "Khlebny Dom".

JSC "Baker" (St. Petersburg)

OJSC “Pekar” was founded in 1992 by privatizing the state bakery and confectionery plant “Krasny Pekar” and is one of the largest manufacturers of bakery, flour and sugar confectionery products in St. Petersburg. The enterprise daily produces 60-65 tons of bread and loaves, 14 tons of oriental sweets, 7 tons of chocolate waffle and 5 tons of biscuit-cream products. In 2009, the Norwegian Orkla confectionery factory named. N.K. Krupskaya acquired production facilities and rented the premises of the St. Petersburg plant "Pekar". Orkla has previously acquired Pekar's main brands.

Orkla Brand Russia was founded in February 2011 as a result of the merger of OJSC Confectionery Factory named after N.K. Krupskoy "and OJSC" Confectionery Association "SladKo". Reorganization completed in December 2011 joint stock companies in the form of the merger of OJSC Confectionery Association SladKo into OJSC Confectionery Factory named after NK Krunskoy, with the latter being renamed into OJSC Orkla Brand Russia.

Chupa Chune Rus LLC (St. Petersburg)

Spanish company Chupa chaps works for Russian market since 1991. In 1997, the company acquired a confectionery factory in St. Petersburg, where the production of Chupa Chups iodine caramel under the Tornado trademark was organized.

CJSC "Russian Biscuit" (Cherepovets, Vologda region)

Russian Biscuit CJSC was established in January 1997 as a subsidiary of the Cherepovets confectionery factory. Since January 2002, both enterprises "Russian Biscuit" and "ChKF" went under general management... The purpose of the company was to organize the production of import-substituting products. The company produces rolls, waffle cakes, muffins. For the production of biscuits, modern equipment was purchased and installed. The possibility of expanding capacities and modernizing other production equipment is currently being considered. A significant part of the company's products are sold outside the city of Cherepovets and the Vologda region.

CJSC Confectionery Factory named after K. Samoilova "(St. Petersburg)

The history of the factory began in 1862 with the opening of a confectionery shop and a workshop with a manual chocolate-making machine on Nevsky Prospect. At present, the factory's production capacity allows it to produce up to 14 thousand g of confectionery products per year, but the production volume is about 6 thousand tons per year, that is, the capacity utilization rate is 43%. The enterprise has five main production shops: candy, biscuit-dragee, retail, marshmallow-marmalade and waffle. Until 1998 the factory belonged to the company Kraft Foods, however, the production of biscuits, which the company was engaged in at that time, was not a core business for Kraft Foods, therefore, at the end of 1998 the factory became part of the Krasny Oktyabr group of enterprises. Currently, the share of the Confectionery Factory named after Samoilova in the confectionery market of St. Petersburg is 5.5%. Currently, the Samoilova Confectionery Factory ("Red October") is part of the United Confectioners Holding

KDV Group unites 8 industrial plants and 16 divisions of the federal trade network with sales geography from Kaliningrad to Sakhalin. The enterprises are located in the cities: Tomsk, Kemerovo, Yashkino, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Krasnoyarsk Territory (Minusinsk). The company is one of the five largest

manufacturers of confectionery products in the Russian Federation, is currently successfully developing.

The company's enterprises produce waffles, cookies, biscuits, rolls under trade marks Yashkino, Kremko, Divo. A large share (about 50%) of the production volume of "KDV Group" falls on the Yashkinsky food processing plant. Ego is the largest producer of waffles in Russia, although the range of products is not limited to waffles, the assortment includes more than 100 items. The share of waffles accounts for more than 30 names (Zebra, Yuzhanka, Belochka, Cappuccino, Nut, Dairy with baked milk flavor and others), they also produce rolls, gingerbread, biscuits, cakes, croissants.

The production capacity of the enterprise is 50 million tons of products per year. The company employs about 1,500 people. The plant is a leader Food Industry not only in Kuzbass, but throughout the Siberian region. The company's products are known not only at the regional consumer market, but also imported across Russia and abroad - to Kazakhstan, Mongolia, America, Germany.

Due to its special taste and high energy value, confectionery products are rightfully one of the most popular and demanded among food industry products all over the world. The main confectionery products include sweets (chocolate, marmalade and caramel), waffles, marshmallows, cookies and gingerbread, as well as biscuits, pastries and cakes. All these products appeared many years before the development of the confectionery industry, each of them has its own long history. These factories produced chocolate, gingerbread, sweets, cookies and marmalade. By the age of 50-70, dozens of new confectionery factories were built, which were equipped with caramel vacuum apparatus, machines for stamping cookies and equipment for casting candy.

Until the 15th century, Arabs brought confectionery to Europe. And already in the 15th century, Europe itself began to intensively produce confectionery food. Italy was in the lead in this. Moreover, not only confectionery products were in demand, but also the craftsmen who made them. Since at that time the manufacturers of sweets had to be able not only to be able to cook them, but also to draw, create various forms and sculpt.

But despite the fact that in Europe today the confectionery industry is at a high level, Arabian sweets are still legendary and in demand. After all, they were the first to use the sugar boiling technology. But this is not the only achievement of the Arabs. They opened the yeast dough and began to bake the cakes.

It was also the Arabs who made the first marmalade. It was prepared during the period of the Crusades (in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East) by evaporation and thickening of fruit juice. For this, shallow metal saucers were placed in the sun.

Also, in ancient times, there were sweets. This is evidenced by archaeological excavations in Egypt. They were made by mixing dates, nuts and honey. They were also produced in Ancient Greece. They were honey sweets with fruit.

Until the 20th century, sweets were mostly made at home. For this they used molasses, honey and maple sugar.

The most popular confectionery product is considered to be chocolate. It began to be produced in the form of tiles in the 19th century. When in Holland they invented Hydraulic Press for its manufacture. And the first chocolates appeared in Belgium. The history of the creation of these is very funny: the pharmacist tried to invent a cough suppressant, and in the end he created sweets. His wife wrapped them in gold wrappers and started selling them. By the way, Belgian sweets are still popular all over the world. They are also sold in Ukraine, but they are not widespread. Most often, they can be purchased in large retail chains both independently and by placing an order for products to the specified address.

In Russia, the first chocolate factories began to appear in the 19th century. The most famous of the factories was the Babaevskaya factory. And by the beginning of the 20th century, more than 140 factories were already read. The most famous of them: "Einem", which was later renamed "Red October", as well as "Siu". They produced cookies, gingerbread, chocolate, marmalade.

Today, the demand for chocolate products and for confectionery products in general has not fallen. This industry continues to develop and delight us with new enchanting tastes.

Today, the products of the Moscow confectionery plant Rot-Front, chocolate from the Krasny Oktyabr factory, sweets from the Babaev factory, Bolshevik wafer cakes and elite chocolate from the Korkunov factory are in constant demand. Well-known Western companies such as Mars, Nestle, Stollwerck have opened their confectionery factories in Russia.

confectionery market segmentation marketing

Among the products of the food industry, confectionery is one of the most popular and demanded all over the world, as it has a special taste and high energy value... The main confectionery products include sweets (chocolate, caramel and marmalade), cookies, marshmallows, waffles and gingerbread, as well as pastries, biscuits and cakes. These products appeared long before the confectionery industry began to develop, so each of them has its own long history. Before moving on to the history of confectionery, I would like to note that the profession of a pastry chef has always been on a special account. In some European countries, confectionery manufacturers were required not only to know how to make them, but also to draw, sculpt and create intricate geometric shapes. The most active confectionery art began to develop in Italy in the 15th century, and until then, only Arabs imported confectionery products to Europe. To this day, Arab countries are famous for their unprecedented variety of sweets, moreover, it was the Arabs who first began to use sugar boiling to obtain new types of confectionery. However, the main achievement in the manufacture of confectionery products of antiquity is the discovery of sourdough, thanks to which yeast pies were baked in Ancient Egypt. 7- http://www.beregnoy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=22&Itemid=21

The first sweets appeared in time immemorial: in particular, during archaeological excavations in Egypt, records were found about the technology of making sweets, the main component of which was dates. According to historians, the ancient Egyptians, accidentally mixing dates, nuts and honey, invented the world's first sweets. The most ancient are honey sweets with fruits, which were made in Ancient Greece. Until the 20th century, home-made candy was very common, for which they used maple sugar, molasses and honey, and to make candy, toffee root and ginger frosting were added to the sweet mass. One of the most popular confectionery products is considered to be chocolate, which first appeared in Mexico - Christopher Columbus, who landed on American soil in the early 16th century, was presented by the Indians with a bowl of chocolate. I must say that Columbus did not appreciate the taste of the cocoa drink, and only the Spanish conquistador Cortez paid attention to this product and predicted a great future for it in Europe. Bar chocolate appeared only in the middle of the 19th century, when a hydraulic press for its production was patented in Holland. The first chocolates were made in Belgium: an ordinary pharmacist, trying to get a cough remedy, made chocolates as a result, and after his wife came up with golden wrappers for them, the candies were snapped up. 8- http: //www.breadbranch. com / history / view / 29.html

The history of chocolate goes back more than three millennia. Cocoa fruits were known even to the Olmec civilization - American Indians who lived a thousand years before our era. It is noticed that among pagan peoples, the object of worship is everything unusual. Over the centuries, many Native American cultures have changed, but the attitude to cocoa among the ancient inhabitants of America has always been reverent.

The Maya tribes believed in the god of cocoa, and drank chocolate during rituals as a sacred drink. The Aztecs called the cacao fruit the food of the gods, believed that they give spiritual insight. Initially, chocolate was consumed only as a drink. From the language of the Mexican Indians, the word "chocolate", or rather "chocoatl", is translated as "bitter water" or "water and foam". The drink was rather viscous, bitter, prepared with spices and fragrant herbs. This is how the first European Christopher Columbus recognized him, who delivered the fruits of cocoa, among other wonders, to the Spanish monarch. However, the drink was forgotten for a century. It is known that in modern world consumer demand is largely formed by advertising of certain confectionery products, for which manufacturers spend a lot of money. Naturally, if confectionery does not meet the quality criteria and the level of its positioning, then their actual consumption will decrease. Today, Russia ranks fourth in the world in the production of confectionery products, and the manufacture of these products is estimated by us as one of the most promising economic areas.


The roots of the history of the emergence of confectionery go far back in antiquity. Sweets first appeared in Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and the Middle East, and then in Italy, quickly spreading around the world thanks to their unsurpassed taste.

In those distant times, confectionery products were not as diverse as they are today, but they were available only to very rich people. Since sweet delicacies were not produced everywhere, sailors and merchants had to follow them on dangerous and long journeys to the East.

It is the oriental confectionery that is still famous for its originality, uniqueness and great variety. Today, all the various sweets from any corner of the world can be bought even in a small provincial town.

The first to enjoy the taste of sweets were the ancient Greeks and Egyptians. The very first are considered to be the sweets of Ancient Greece, made from honey and a wide variety of fruits. In Egypt, dates were the main component of these sweets.

According to history, the Egyptians invented candy by accident, mixing nuts, honey and dates. Until the 20th century, candy was usually made at home with molasses, maple syrup and honey, and ginger frosting and toffee root were used to make candy.

Also one of the most ancient sweets is marmalade. It was first made in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East during the Crusades. Ancient Greek recipes for this delicacy indicate that evaporated and then condensed fruit juice was used in the preparation of marmalade. Only in the 16th century did fruit sweets appear in Europe, thanks to cheap American sugar.

But the most popular confectionery today is chocolate. Chocolate appeared in Mexico, and the first European to taste chocolate was Christopher Columbus in the 16th century. When Columbus landed in America, the first thing the Indians did was present him with a bowl of dark chocolate.

But he could not appreciate the drink at its true worth, only the conquistador Cortez from Spain paid due attention to the wonderful taste of the cocoa drink. Thanks to this, chocolate spread throughout Europe and conquered it. But sweet delicacies are not the only ones with unsurpassed taste.

Sweets made from natural fruits and cocoa powder are rich in vitamins and minerals necessary for health. For example, the first chocolates were invented by a Belgian pharmacist trying to get a cough medicine. Therefore, natural confectionery is both tasty and healthy.

 

It might be helpful to read: