Talkkuna (or kama in Estonian) means a finely milled mixture of roasted grains or pea flour. The combination varies a lot according to the province, as well as the right way to eat it. Today it's mostly used in desserts but a hundred years ago it was combined practically with anything to form a quick snack. In Tavastia talkkuna was normally mixed with sour milk products but in South Ostrobothnia it was coped together with berries and in Savo it was used with pork lard. My home town even has a street named Tokerotie since during the building in the great hunger years the workers got talkkuna porridge for salary.Talkkuna's taste is hard to describe. As a kid I hated it, now I've come to love the bizarre combination of chocolaty and malty flavours. I've often envied the way today's Estonian kitchen seems to use talkkuna much more creatively than Finns do. Even though our test group recently decided that an Estonian chocolate bar spiced with kama tasted like old stockings, I did notice that kama and coffee used in that bar might actually make a great combination. So here's a coffee-spiked simple talkkuna snack or dessert.
- 1 dl talkkuna
- 1 dl coffee (or to be a purist, water or oat milk)
- black currants
- raspberries
(- sugar)
Mix the talkkuna and the coffee. Top with berries. Sprinkle sugar on top if you wish.
Nutritional values / 200 g (without sugar):
energy 192 kcal
fat 2 g
protein 5 g
carbohydrates 36 g
fiber 7 g
Sometimes my ostrobothnian roots claim for proper talkkunapöperö (mixing talkkuna with blueberries) But mixing coffee and talkkuna would have never came into my mind. A must try recipe!
ReplyDeleteOkriina, I somehow thought that pöperö is a Tavastian word! Guess I should really clear up for myself what's pepu and what's mutti as well. But piapo at least HAS to be Tavastian.
ReplyDeleteWell, pepu, mutti or piapo don't belong to my (somewhat limited) dialectical grammar. Interesting words, though ;)
ReplyDeleteNow I checked what word a barefoot Tavastian would use and he claimed that talkkuna is the dish and the flour is called talkkuna flour. :) Well, a beloved child has many names.
ReplyDeleteGreat that a gourmet chef like you still eats it, anyway. Think talkkuna is once again one of those specialties that most Finns seem to find too Finnish.