Monastic recipe for Greek memorial food (koliva)
Koliva is a traditional Orthodox sweet made from boiled wheat. We make them at funerals, memorial services and All Soul's Day to remember our dead. According to tradition the koliva are made of 9 materials, as many as the orders of angels and each material has its own symbolism. Wheat symbolizes the hope for the Resurrection of man and is likened in the New Testament to the human body. As the grain of wheat, unless it first dies and is buried in the earth, will not produce sprouts and fruit, so the human body, unless it is first buried dead in the earth, will not be resurrected. See the step-by-step recipe with all the secrets for successful, aromatic baths with rich nutritional value.
"Truly I say to you, if a seed of wheat falls into the ground but does not die, it remains a single seed, but if it dies, it bears much fruit". According to the Gospel of John (chapter 12, verse 24).
Original: "Truly, i say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit".
In the evening, we wash the wheat and let it soak in a pot with water and salt.
The next day, we change the water and boil the wheat for about 40 minutes.
We strain the wheat and place it on a spread towel to absorb the excess moisture.
We wash the raisins and let them soak in hot water for 3 minutes. Then, we drain them and wipe them with a towel.
First, we mix the coconut with the orange zest and pour it into a large bowl together with the wheat and raisins.
Then, we add all the other ingredients except the breadcrumbs and sugar.
We place a piece of greaseproof paper on the tray, which we have first cut to the appropriate size.
We pour the mixture from the basin onto the tray and form a small hill.
We press the mixture down with our hands.
We pour the breadcrumbs into the mound little by little from the outside inwards and press well on top with a piece of parchment paper.
We sprinkle the mixture with the sugar starting from the center outwards and press well with the other side of the parchment paper.
We using a toothpick, carve a large cross in the center of the mixture. We can also engrave if we want some flowers or a garland.
We fill the points we have carved with either silver sugar almonds or cinnamon.
The longer we soak the wheat in the water, the less boiling the cobs need.
Leftovers koliva keep covered in the fridge for a day or two.
We put the cashew to absorb the moisture in the filling.
Powered sugar isn't recommended because it breaks and muddies the filling. It also needs three times the amount to cover the tray compared to fine sugar.
The breadcrumbs are inserted between the filling and the sugar, so that any moisture from the filling does not pass into the sugar.
The recipe is from the book "As sweet to my throat".
