THE CHARM OF OLD CRAFTS IN KREMNICA

THE HONEY BISCUIT MAKERS

Kremnica

The honey biscuit makers made sweet biscuits, which they sold mainly at fairs and to pilgrims. The biscuits were made from special dough sweetened with honey. They were cast in special carved wooden moulds, so that they had the shape of figures: a saint, soldier, horseman, doll, animal, pony, deer and especially hearts. In the 19th century, they began to decorate the biscuits with multi colored icing and put pictures on them.

They did not have an independent guild at Kremnica. The masters belonged to a guild for the whole of the old Kingdom of Hungary, which had had its headquarters in Bratislava since 1681. This guild had a branch in the mining towns. Apart from making honey biscuits, the honey biscuit makers had the right to do all work connected with honey and wax. They also made candles. In 1777, Kremnica had two honey biscuit makers.

The emblem of the honey biscuit makers was their product-a honey biscuit with the Madonna and Child.

GO BACK TO OLD CRAFTS

Reprinted from: The Charm of Old Crafts, PhDr. Ludmila Nemeskurthiova
Published by © National Bank of Slovakia-Museum of Coins and Medals Kremnica 1998
Published in the Slovak Heritage Live newsletter Volume 7, No. 2, Summer 1999
3804 Yale Street, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5C 1P6
The above article and photographs may not be copied, reproduced, republished, or redistributed by any means including electronic, without the express written permission of Vladimir Linder. All rights reserved.