A pie made with kaimaki (cream/butter formed on the milk surface after milking)
Name - Origin
Fried pitta with milk skin, commonly known as kafourópitta; sometimes this pitta was prepared with a filling (Yangoullis 2009, entry τσιππόπιττα,η, 492). Eugenia Petrou-Poeitou notes that this pitta is made from a dough sheet smeared with tsippa (milk butter), almonds, cinnamon and syrup (Petrou-Poeitou 2013, entry Τσιππόπιττα, 156).
Tsippa, i.e. the kaimaki (skin) that forms on the milk surface after milking, was richer when it was time for the animals to give birth to young ones; so, tsippopitta was made at that time. They would brush a thin sheet of wheat dough with tsippa, add ground cinnamon and then they would roll it into a spiral shape and bake it in the oven (Rizopoulou-Igoumenidou, 2008).
Functional and symbolic role
Tsipopitta was made for about two months following sheeps and goats’ giving birth to young ones; after that time, milk was thinner without tsippa (Rizopoulou-Igoumenidou, 2008)
Additional information and bibliography
Kaimakli, on the outskirts of Nicosia, took its name from thick kaimaki. Many shepherds with livestock used to live in Kamiakli, producing and selling sour milk with cream to the inhabitants of the capital (Kantzilaris 2005, 254-255 and 11). Butter from tsippa was also produced by whipping tsippa in a special container (Economides 2004, 91). Some people would boil tsippa they had collected to melt it and store it for use in place of butter (Ionas 2001, 143).
Yangoullis K. G. (2009), Θησαυρός Κυπριακής Διαλέκτου. Ερμηνευτικό, Ετυμολογικό, Φρασεολογικό και Ονοματολογικό Λεξικό της Μεσαιωνικής και Νεότερης Κυπριακής Διαλέκτου, Βιβλιοθήκη Κυπρίων Λαϊκών Ποιητών, Theopress Publications, Nicosia.
Petrou-Poeitou E. (2013), Από πού κρατάει η σκούφια τους. Λέξεις και ιστορίες από τον κόσμο της γεύσης, Epiphaniou Publications, Nicosia.
Rizopoulou-Igoumenidou E. (2008), «Τα γαλακτοκομικά προϊόντα στον ετήσιο κύκλο της παραδοσιακής ζωής στην Κύπρο», Η ιστορία του ελληνικού γάλακτος και των προϊόντων του (1st Workshop, Xanthi, 7-9 October 2005), Kalantzopoulos G. (ed.), Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation, Athens, 401-423.
Kantzilaris G. (2007), Το Καϊμακλί μέσα από το πέρασμα του χρόνου, Publication of the new coop of kaimakli, Nicosia
Ionas, I. (2001). Παραδοσιακά επαγγέλματα της Κύπρου (Publications of the Centre for Scientific Research XXXVII), Centre for Scientific Research, Nicosia.
Eleni Christou, Tonia Ioakim, Argyro Xenophontos
Τσιππόπιτα, Λευκωσία 2014.φωτ: Μαρκέλλα Καλλή
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