At the end of summer 2017 as we were planning our annual lyutenitsa batch, we decided to make three different kinds that would suit every taste. The first one would be coarsely ground and chunkier, the second one smoother, and the third one was to have a little twist in the recipe – 40% Jerusalem artichoke.
All three came out delicious.
After deciding on the recipes, we had to choose the names (up until then we had only used numbers for each recipe). Weeks went by, the peppers were ripening, but the lyutenitsa names were not in sight yet. We were looking for three names that would tell stories. And then someone remembered it was the summer of the three weddings at harmonica.
The first one to get married was Nadya. Then it was Emo’s wedding in the Rhodope Mountains. And finally we celebrated Venko and Pamela’s Bulgarian-Bolivian love story. And suddenly it was clear there couldn’t be any better idea than to name the three lyutenitsas of 2017 after the three weddings from that memorable summer – Ilievi, Hadzhievi and Simeonovi.
Those three wedding parties were unforgettable and the lyutenitsas came out delicious – open the jar and they are gone in seconds. But for many of us the three kinds of lyutenitsa bring back beautiful memories from that gorgeous summer.
P.S. Nadya is in charge of our sales team in Sofia. Emo works at the office and handles logistics and finance. Venko was part of our development team and we owe him many of our new products. Pamela was working on our export partnerships. The two of them recently moved to Santa Cruz, Bolivia – if you go there, give them a shout.
P.P.S. And the horo dancers in the first photo are (left to right): Toma – chief dairy technologist, Petar from the product development team, Emo from the office and Stani from sales.