Memorial Dish - Kolivo (Part 2)

Once the Wheat berry is boiled,

spread it out on clean towels.

My Bulgarian friend explained to me:

In a separate place crush up (triturate) some biscuits/cookies/crackers (they should be lenten now). If you don’t have biscuits/cookies/crackers you can put hard-baked flour ( put one cup flour in a pan an put it on the hot-plate, stir it without interruption until the flour becomes brown).
Mix well the boiled and dried jito with the biscuit’s powder.

I put raisins in,

and plumped them a little bit by pouring some boiling water

over them in a pan.

Watch them that you do not over cook them;

the raisins do not have to be in the water more than 5 - 10 minutes.

I made some hard baked flour

as I did not have cookies;

there is a biscuit called Marie Biscuit

that another Bulgarian uses to sweeten the Kolivo.

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My friend continues:

Put the mix in a bowl and before living for the church cover it with powder sugar (otherwise the powder sugar will melt quickly and wll wet the jito).

On the top of the powder sugar you can put some decoration like a Cross or something else, also you can put some walnuts. The nuts you can put also in the jito/biscuit mix.

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I chose to go without nuts so that I could give out the Kolivo without worry

of anyone having allergies to nuts.

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After the service,

I cut up the bread

and put the Kovlivo in disposable cups with spoons

and handed them out.

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Bulgarians have the priest pour a little bit of red wine

in the bread

(or the Kolivo if the bread is not able to be used).

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You hand the food to the people attending in memory of

your beloved one

and traditionally the response of the person receiving the food is

to the effect of

May God forgive them.

O Thou Who savest fallen Adam and the whole human race from

eternal perdition, O Good One, Thou didst sent Thy Son

into the world, by Whose Cross and Resurrection life eternal hath

dawned on us. Trusting in Thine infinite compassion, we look

for the incorruptible kingdom of Thy glory, we implore Thee to grant

it to our departed loved ones, and we pray Thee:

O Lord, gladden the souls wearied by the storms of life, that they may

forget earthly sorrows and sighings; do Thou harken unto them

in Thy bosom, as a mother hearth her children, and say to them:

Your sins are forgiven you. O Lord,

receive them into Thy blessed, calm haven, open to them the palaces

of the angles and saints, that they may rejoice in Thy divine glory.

O Lord of unutterable love, remember Thy servants

who have fallen asleep!

- Ekos 1 of the Akathist for the Repose of the Departed

from the Book of Akathists Vol 1

published by Holy Trinity Monastery,

Jordonville NY, 1994.

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May Lucia's Memory be Eternal!

Memorial Wheat Dish - Kolivo

To make the Kolivo

you can use either Pearl Wheat or Soft Wheat.

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My Bulgarian friend uses Pearl Wheat and I used this as well.

The difference is that Pearl Wheat cooks up in a matter of 10 to 15 minutes

while Soft Wheat you boil and leave simmer for much longer.

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Another word for Kolivio is "Jito" --

here is the recipe that my Bulgarian friend passed on to me:

JITO

I will call the boiled wheat “Jito”:

Put 1/3 or 1/2 (or the whole package, it depends how much you need, I put usually max 1/2 package) of the Jito’s package into a cold water (the water should cover the jito) and boiled it for about 10 min. When jito is ready the grains must be soft but in their shape. You can try the readiness when you chew it up, then the grain should be soft but not like a mess but a little bit hard. Be careful because if it become very, very soft, it will be like a mess and that is not good.

That’s why try the readiness often and ALMOST ALL THE TIME STIR !! IF THE WATER BECOMES LESS PUT MORE. When you decide that the jito is boiled then drain it and put it on a piece of cloth/towel to dry for a while.

I used a large pot to boil the Pearl Wheat in.

I spread out two tea towels on baking sheets

for the Wheat berry to be spread out to dry

(this is a part which you have to watch the timing,

so that it does not become too dried out).

I soon understood why my friend empathized

having water to cover the Pearl Wheat,

as it quickly soaked up water

as it boiled.

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The next post will explain the rest of how to make this dish.

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The wheat is used to remind us of the Resurrection

and it is in Christ that we look to

in these times of grief

and preparation....