Fruit

Fruit traditionally played a fairly limited role in Seto cuisine because it was difficult to keep them over winter (other than cranberries and lingonberries, which could be kept in water).

Orchards and berry growing became more common in the first half of the 20th century. Apples and pears were the main fruits. The best-known pears were the semi-wild ones, dried in great quantities to be turned into fruit soup and pies in winter. Seto apple cake has a thick yeast-leavened base. The thick fruit soup, made from dried apples and pears, prunes and raisins, is also very tasty.

In the old days, the most prized wild berries were cranberries, which were also turned into fruit soup and a pink-tinged whipped cream of wheat dish. Setomaa’s forests are rich in wild blueberries and lingonberries. Juniper berries used to be picked, too. Juniper berries slow-cooked in the oven made a tasty kvass.

Of horticultural berries, red and blackcurrants have traditionally been grown. Around the 1930s, domesticated strawberries were introduced; raspberries followed afterward.