Shulyky

Shulyky is a traditional Ukrainian — particularly Poltava — dessert inseparably tied to the feast of Makovii (1 August; 14 August in the Julian calendar), when poppy, water, and flowers are blessed in church.

Shulyky is made thus: a thin unleavened or yeasted flatbread is baked, broken by hand into small pieces, and then doused with fragrant poppy-seed milk — poppy seeds ground with honey and water. Sometimes crushed nuts are added too. Soaked in the sweet poppy sauce, the pieces of flatbread become tender and remarkably tasty. This ritual dish combines honey with poppy — the symbol of the August feast — and is a vivid example of how Ukrainian cuisine is closely interwoven with the folk calendar and spiritual tradition.