Birch sap vinegar
Vinegar from spring birch sap fermented to alcohol and then acetic acid, usually with added sugar or honey because the sap is so dilute; made in Sweden and described in older eastern European accounts.
Zacusca
Zacuscă · Zacuscă · zakuszka · Zacusca de vinete
Zacusca is a Romanian and Moldovan spread of roasted eggplant and sweet peppers cooked down with onion, tomato and oil, made in quantity in autumn and kept in jars for winter.
A winter preserve from the autumn harvest
Zacusca is a roasted vegetable spread of Romania and Moldova, and it is also known in Hungary as zakuszka. The name is given as Slavic, meaning roughly appetiser, breakfast or snack. Cooks traditionally make it after the autumn harvest, in a large batch that is canned to last through winter.
The sources read give no dates for the spread and no named first maker. Its origin in Romania is stated, not documented, and the same is true of its spread into neighbouring places. Its history therefore stays open.
Sources for this section
Roasting the vegetables
The base is eggplant roasted until the flesh is soft and the skin blackens, with sweet peppers roasted the same way. Traditional versions use gogosar, a fleshy red pepper; Romano or red bell peppers are given as substitutes. Roasting gives the spread its smoky, cooked flavour, and the charred skin is peeled away.
Yumsome says the eggplant skin may be scraped or discarded, and the author advises against draining the roasted vegetables, because their juices add flavour.
Sources for this section
Cooking the mixture down
Onion is fried gently in oil with salt until cooked but not caramelised. The roasted vegetables are then blitzed to a coarse mash and added with tomato, bay leaves and black pepper. Sources differ on the tomato: Wikibooks uses tomato paste, Yumsome uses passata.
The mixture is simmered with frequent stirring. Wikibooks gives no fixed time and cooks until the oil rises to the surface; Yumsome gives about an hour. The sources do not agree on this endpoint, so a cook should judge it by the texture and the oil on the surface.
Sources for this section
Jars, storage and the limits of the method
Hot spread is ladled into sterilised jars with headspace and sealed. Yumsome gives an oven method at 110 C and a pan method of about 30 minutes at a boil, and says unopened jars keep in the pantry for at least a year. Wikibooks gives no sealing or processing method and says canning safety is not covered.
These processing steps are the sources' own advice. They are not a tested preservation process, and the spread should be refrigerated after opening and used within a few days to a week.
Sources for this section
Variants and related spreads
Households vary the recipe. Mushroom versions are a recognised branch, and bean versions appear in the sources. Moldovan cooks add carrots, which makes the spread sweeter. Some cooks also add carrots or celery, and recipes differ between regions and families.
Related Balkan and regional spreads include ajvar, pindjur, ljutenica, the Turkish biber salcasi made from red pepper alone, and the Bulgarian kyopolou. These are related foods, not the same recipe.
Sources for this section
History
The spread is traditionally made in large batches after the autumn harvest and canned for winter. The name is given as Slavic, meaning roughly appetiser, breakfast or snack.
The dish's first written record and its originators are not identified in the sources read. Its claimed origin in Romania is the Wikipedia article's own statement.
Ingredients
Yield 4 jars · Scaling: source batch only
Eggplant (aubergine)Roast until soft; scoop the flesh.
1.5 kg
Red peppers (gogosar, Romano or bell)Roast until the skin blackens; peel and remove the seeds.
1 kg
Gogosar is the traditional Romanian variety.OnionThinly sliced; fried gently in oil with salt, not caramelised.
500 g
Sunflower oil
250 mL
or another neutral oilPassata (tomato)
500 g
9.9 mL2 tsp as recorded
Bay leaves
2
4.9 mL1 tsp as recorded
Sugar (optional)
15 mL1 tbsp as recorded
to taste, if the mixture seems too acidicMethod
Risks and precautions · Elevated risk
Low-acid vegetable mixture stored at room temperature
A cooked vegetable spread with oil, onion and tomato is not an acidified product, and the sources give no tested acidity or processing method for jars kept at room temperature.
Hazard sourceHot mixture when filling jars
Yumsome warns about the risk of burns when ladling the hot spread.
Hazard sourceRefrigerate after opening and use promptly
Control sourceThe jar-handling advice in these recipes is not a validated preservation process. Use a tested canning reference before storing at room temperature, and refrigerate once opened.
- Heat the oven to 225 C. Prick the pepper skins, halve the eggplants lengthwise and roast them cut side down with the peppers for about 30 to 35 minutes, until the eggplant is soft and the pepper skins start to blacken.
- While the vegetables roast, put the onion and salt into a heavy pan and fry gently in the oil over medium-low heat until cooked, without caramelising.
- Let the roasted vegetables cool enough to handle. Scoop the eggplant flesh into the pan with the onion. Peel the peppers, remove the innards and blitz briefly to a coarse mash. Do not drain the juices.
- Add the pepper mash, passata, bay leaves and black pepper. Taste, and add sugar if the mixture is too acidic.
- Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer for about an hour, stirring about every 10 minutes to stop it sticking. Yumsome gives this one-hour simmer as the endpoint; Wikibooks gives no fixed time and cooks until the oil rises to the surface.
- Ladle the hot spread into sterilised jars, leaving about 2 cm of headspace, and screw the lids on tightly. Yumsome then gives an oven or pan process; no tested canning process is given for either.
Conditions
Yield4 jars
Places
Romania
Traditional preparation · Country evidenceNamed as the place of origin by the Wikipedia article; no dates given.
Moldova
Traditional preparation · Country evidenceListed among the places where the spread is popular.
Hungary
Documented use · Country evidenceCalled zakuszka there.
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Sources
WikipediaHistory · Variants
ZacuscaRomania, Moldova and Hungary (zakuszka); Slavic-origin name; mushroom and bean variants; related Balkan spreads
Cited in: A winter preserve from the autumn harvest; Variants and related spreads
WikibooksMethod
Cookbook:Zacusca (Romanian Vegetable Spread)Ingredients and method; simmer until the oil rises; no canning method given
Cited in: Roasting the vegetables; Cooking the mixture down; Jars, storage and the limits of the method; Variants and related spreads
YumsomeMethod · Storage
Zacusca Romanian eggplant and red pepper spreadQuantities for 4 jars; roasting at 225 C; one-hour simmer; oven and pan jar processes; storage times
Cited in: Roasting the vegetables; Cooking the mixture down; Jars, storage and the limits of the method