() or bird's milk is a

Central Europe Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...

confectionery Confectionery is the Art (skill), art of making confections, or sweet foods. Confections are items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates, although exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confections are divided into two bro ...

originating in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. It is a small,

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either by itself or to flavoring, flavor other foods. Cocoa beans are the processed seeds of the cacao tree (''Theobroma cacao''); unprocesse ...

-covered

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar * Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a laye ...

with a soft marshmallow-like interior. E. Wedel is one of the most recognized chocolate confectioneries in

, having exclusive rights for the name . Other confectionery producers also make similar candies named differently (e.g., , "Alpine milk"). Nonetheless, is often used to refer to similar candies with vanilla, cream, lemon or chocolate flavour. In

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, (птичье молоко) is both a popular candy and a famous soufflé cake. The brand was introduced in the 1960s during the Soviet era, and continues to be used by companies operating the factories which produced these candies and cakes since that time. The confectionery is also produced in other

post-Soviet states The post-Soviet states, also referred to as the former Soviet Union or the former Soviet republics, are the independent sovereign states that emerged/re-emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Prior to their independence, they ...

Origin of the name

The concept of avian milk (, ''ornithon gala'') stretches back to ancient Greece.

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...

uses "the milk of the birds" in the plays '' The Birds'' and ''

The Wasps ''The Wasps'' () is the fourth in chronological order of the eleven surviving plays by Aristophanes. It was produced at the Lenaia festival in 422 BC, during Athens' short-lived respite from the Peloponnesian War and shortly before the death o ...

'' as a proverbial rarity. The expression is also found in

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...

's ''

Geographica The ''Geographica'' (, ''Geōgraphiká''; or , "Strabo's 17 Books on Geographical Topics") or ''Geography'', is an encyclopedia of geographical knowledge, consisting of 17 'books', written in Greek in the late 1st century BC, or early 1st cen ...

'' where the island of

Samos Samos (, also ; , ) is a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese archipelago, and off the coast of western Turkey, from which it is separated by the Mycale Strait. It is also a separate reg ...

is described as a ''blest country,'' to which ''those who praise it do not hesitate to apply the proverb that "it produces even bird's milk" (φέρει καί ὀρνίθων γάλα)''.

. ''

''
14 - 1 - 15
Original text: Γεωγραφικά, ΙΔ. A similar expression (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

for chicken's milk) was also later used by

Petronius Gaius Petronius Arbiter"Gaius Petronius Arbiter"
Britannica.com. (; ; ; s ...

(38.1) and

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...

(Plin. ''Nat.'' pr. 24) as a term for something of great rarity. The idiom later became common in many languages and appeared in

Slavic Slavic, Slav or Slavonic may refer to: Peoples * Slavic peoples, an ethno-linguistic group living in Europe and Asia ** East Slavic peoples, eastern group of Slavic peoples ** South Slavic peoples, southern group of Slavic peoples ** West Slav ...

folk tales.Птичье молоко. Фразеологизмы.
Справочная служба русского языка Белгородской государственной универсальной научной библиотеки (in Russian). In one such tale, the beautiful princess tests the ardor and resourcefulness of her suitor by sending him out into the wilderness to find and bring back the one fantastical luxury she does not have: bird's milk. In the fairy tale ''Little Hare'' by

Aleksey Remizov Aleksey Mikhailovich Remizov (; in Moscow – 26 November 1957 in Paris) was a Russian modernist writer whose creative imagination veered to the fantastic and bizarre. Apart from literary works, Remizov was an expert calligrapher who sought to ...

(who wrote many imitations of traditional Slavic folk tales), the magic bird

Gagana Gagana is a miraculous bird with an iron beak and copper claws featured in Russian folklore. She is said to live on the Buyan Island. The bird is often mentioned in incantations. It is also said this bird guards the Alatyr, alongside Garafena t ...

produces milk. Whether any of these authors were aware of

crop milk Crop milk is a secretion from the lining of the crop of parent birds in some species that is regurgitated to young birds. It is found among all pigeons and doves where it is also referred to as pigeon milk. Crop milk is also secreted from the c ...

from some species of birds is unknown.

History and variations

Bird's milk was first created in 1936 in Poland by , owner of the E. Wedel Company. According to the company's official history, Wedel's inspiration for the name of the confectionery came from his voyages to France, when he asked himself: "What could bring greater happiness to a man who already has everything?" Then he thought: "Maybe only bird milk." In Russia, was originally a type of confectionery introduced in 1967 in

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( ; , ) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai and the capital of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. It is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, covering an area o ...

and in 1968 by the Rot Front factory in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. It became a hit, and mass production was started in 1975 by the '' Krasny Oktyabr'' confectionery factory in Moscow. In Estonia, (also bird's milk in

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

...

) is the brand name of a similar candy made by the Kalev candy factory. This candy also uses agar-agar instead of gelatin as a thickening agent and comes in three flavors: chocolate, vanilla, and lemon. In 2021, a special edition with grapefruit flavor was produced. In Moldova, (also bird's milk in

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

) is the brand name of a similar candy made by the Bucuria candy factory. Despite the name, the candy is not to be confused with the

traditional dessert ''

lapte de pasăre Lapte () is a Communes of France, commune in the Haute-Loire Departments of France, department in south-central France, located 23 kilometres southwest of Firminy. Lapte is surrounded by the communes Grazac, Haute-Loire, Grazac, Chenereilles, Hau ...

''.

Bird's milk cake

In 1978, the popular candy was transformed into a cake by Vladimir Guralnik in Moscow's Praga Restaurant. This was a light sponge cake filled with an airy soufflé and topped with chocolate glaze. A distinct feature of the Russian recipe is the usage of

agar-agar Agar ( or ), or agar-agar, is a jelly-like substance consisting of polysaccharides obtained from the cell walls of some species of red algae, primarily from " ogonori" and " tengusa". As found in nature, agar is a mixture of two components, t ...

instead of

gelatin Gelatin or gelatine () is a translucent, colorless, flavorless food ingredient, commonly derived from collagen taken from animal body parts. It is brittle when dry and rubbery when moist. It may also be referred to as hydrolyzed collagen, coll ...

as a

thickening agent A thickening agent or thickener is a substance which can increase the viscosity of a liquid without substantially changing its other properties. Edible thickeners are commonly used to thicken sauces, soups, and puddings without altering their ...

, which withstands the high temperature needed to melt down sugar into a syrup. Initially, the restaurant produced trial batches of 20–30 cakes, but after six months the daily output was increased to 500 cakes. The recipe was quickly copied by other restaurants in Moscow, such as Moskva, Budapesht, and Ukraina. In the 1980s, a special factory for Bird's milk cakes was built in the Novye Cheryomushky district in the south of Moscow. Both the cake and the candy versions of the bird's milk are widely available to this date in supermarkets and specialty stores all over Russia.

Trademarks

''Lapte de pasăre'', ''Ptasie Mleczko'', ''Ptiche moloko'', and ''Vogelmilch'' are registered

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a form of intellectual property that consists of a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination that identifies a Good (economics and accounting), product or Service (economics), service f ...

s in the EU. In Russia, ''Птичье молоко'' is a registered trademark of Rot Front, a member of

United Confectioners United Confectioners () is a Russian confectionery holding. Through its subsidiaries it produces chocolate bars, cakes, cookies and candies. The holding owns brands such as Krasny Oktyabr (confectionery brand), Krasny Oktyabr, Rot Front (confection ...

. Other companies have been sued for using the name, even if they had used it in the Soviet Union.

References

External links

E. Wedel chocolates

ООО «Птичье молоко»
Moscow "Ptichye moloko" cake factory (in Russian) {{portalbar, Food, Poland, Russia Chocolate-covered foods Marshmallows Brand name chocolate Polish desserts Belarusian desserts Latvian desserts Russian desserts Ukrainian desserts Soviet cuisine Polish brands Polish confectionery Soviet brands Russian brands Ukrainian brands