Mystery solved. I've had a red heart from Croatia for years and suddenly, using one as a necklace on a heart and Valentine's Day symbol for a theme evening meeting for a Toastmasters Club, I started to search for some facts about it.
After much searching over a week for the words heart and heart shape and biscuit, and Croatia, I eventually found a site selling wooden biscuit moulds which revealed the local word Licitar. Then onto Wikipedia for pictures and facts. As far as I can tell, the pronunciation is Litsitar - correct me if I'm wrong. The wikipedia has a phonetic spelling and online you can hear the pronunciation - or ask a local person to say it.
The Licitar is a symbol of Zagreb, thought to originate from a religious building, but now used as a decoration for Xmas and Valentine's day and simply a secular souvenir of both Croatia and nearby Slovenia.
Apparently they are called gingerbread, although they contain no ginger. They are made from flour and honey and are edible. (I would check the maker/seller/supplier that you have bought or been given an edible one in case somebody else added a non edible colouring or varnish.) They are dried for two weeks.
If you are going to Croatia or another nearby area, look out for them. Online you can buy heart shape biscuit cutters (cookie cutters if you are in the USA), made from metal such as tin or stainless steel, plastic, or bendy soft silicon, wooden indented biscuit presses, and pencil shape devices with fixed or changeable cutters on the end, as well as nesting sets of two, three or more hearts. The heart cutters I found from Croatia come with recipes.
http://stores.croatiagifts.com/cooking/?sort=featured&page=1
My previous post tells you what happened when I took my heart pendant to Asia - and the heart vanished. Who took it?
More details from Wikipedia which has pictures.
Angela Lansbury B A Hons
Travel writer and photographer
After much searching over a week for the words heart and heart shape and biscuit, and Croatia, I eventually found a site selling wooden biscuit moulds which revealed the local word Licitar. Then onto Wikipedia for pictures and facts. As far as I can tell, the pronunciation is Litsitar - correct me if I'm wrong. The wikipedia has a phonetic spelling and online you can hear the pronunciation - or ask a local person to say it.
Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.
The Licitar is a symbol of Zagreb, thought to originate from a religious building, but now used as a decoration for Xmas and Valentine's day and simply a secular souvenir of both Croatia and nearby Slovenia.
Apparently they are called gingerbread, although they contain no ginger. They are made from flour and honey and are edible. (I would check the maker/seller/supplier that you have bought or been given an edible one in case somebody else added a non edible colouring or varnish.) They are dried for two weeks.
If you are going to Croatia or another nearby area, look out for them. Online you can buy heart shape biscuit cutters (cookie cutters if you are in the USA), made from metal such as tin or stainless steel, plastic, or bendy soft silicon, wooden indented biscuit presses, and pencil shape devices with fixed or changeable cutters on the end, as well as nesting sets of two, three or more hearts. The heart cutters I found from Croatia come with recipes.
http://stores.croatiagifts.com/cooking/?sort=featured&page=1
My previous post tells you what happened when I took my heart pendant to Asia - and the heart vanished. Who took it?
More details from Wikipedia which has pictures.
Angela Lansbury B A Hons
Travel writer and photographer
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