Pańska skórka

The candy is made of sugar, water, syrup, egg whites whipped with a pinch of salt, gelatin, some kind of flavoring, pink fruit juice (usually raspberry) and potato flour.^[1] After the batter is cooked, it is poured onto a flat sheet and, after cooling down, cut into squares about 3 cm wide. Pańska skórka is most often very sweet, with a delicate caramel-almond flavor, if made with the traditional recipe in mind. It is usually white and pink, although nowadays a variety and flavors and corresponding colors can be purchased, including for example cola or bubble gum.^[2]

According to one of the many origin stories, the confectionery was invented in 19th century in Praga district. The following recipe was provided by the historic records: "Of the purest gum arabic, pour half a pound of spring or river water into a saucepan and cook over high heat until it dissolves, and when it is dissolved, strain through a flannel, and when it has completely cooled, add a pound of finely ground sugar and put it on the coals, cook slowly, as it starts to steam from the boiler, the mass will thicken, mix quickly, add a little foam from 8 egg whites, beat so that it is not too heavy, then remove from the heat and immediately put into paper molds [covered] in vegetable oil or the best olive oil. Pour again almond oil or olive oil on top and store in jars".^[3]

The candy is sold at the capital's cemeteries on November 1, All Saints' Day. In 2008, it was entered on the list of traditional products in the Masovian Voivodeship.^[4] A comparable candy, known as trupi miodek (corpse honey), is sold in and around Kraków.^[5] The confectionery is usually made as a cottage industry product, and some Varsovians shun it as possibly cooked in unhygienic conditions.^[6]

Pańska skórka was called panieńska skórka (maiden's leather/skin) at the beginning of the 20th century, as featured in Słownik warszawski (Dictionary of Warsaw). The confectionery was then described as a "sweet mallow cake, sold in bars and pharmacies, as a cough remedy or as a delicacy"^[4] (1908 edition), while in the 1915 edition the candy seems to be "a pharmacy product, rather a delicacy than a medicine, given to coughing children, and composed of gum arabic, fine sugar, egg white, all beaten into foam, with orange flower oil, which forms quadrangular tablets, dried in moderate heat."