TRADITION OF MAKING THE FAMOUS LOKUM FROM KRUSHEVO

There is no man in Krushevo who hasn't hear about George Tagas. For six years this renowned master of lokum, "baked" the craft in Greece, and after he was old, he pass it to his son Kiro and Kiro to his son Mihajlo Choneski. Like all trades, this one was transferred from generation to generation. He is happy that he leaves a memorial, where many Krushevo people will remember him for colorful sugars, celufki (kisses) and white halva. Naturally, he's most famous for the famous Krusevo lokum that is served on christenings, weddings, entrees and memorials. Krushevo lokum is widely known and everyone who tried it immediately fell in love with its taste.


- Lokum production is a specific and difficult job. For a whole year I was baking lokum and during that time I was hardly able to make the right one. But over time, I have learned all the finishes of the "sweet craft" and today I have successfully dealt with all the challenges. Making the lokum requires physical work, lifting sugar bags, constantly mixing the dense mixture. The lokum is made from water, sugar, starch and citric acid, but in order to get the right taste, it is necessary to find the right suitable ingredients that only the masters of the Tagasovci family know, said one of the most prominent Krusevo masters for Lokum, Mihajlo Choneski.

How is lokum prepared?

- Water is poured in a copper bowl and then we add sugar. After boiling the water, we add the starch previously dissolved in water, without any clumps through it and we mix all the time. Then citric acid is added, which is also an important element for the good taste of the locum. Once the lokum is cooked, it is poured into wooden containers and left to stand for one night. The next day it is cut into strips, and the strips are cut in small pieces and drizzled with powdered sugar - said the master Mihajlo.

At the beginning of the last century, the Tagas family in Krushevo started to make lokum and the same way of preparing with a copper cauldron of fire and wood is kept even today. People are changing, but traditions remain. In Krusevo today, as once, coffee is served with a lokum. There is still a tradition.

People say that they use lokum as a medicine and say that if the lokum is eaten fast every morning, it treats ulcers in stomach.

- Every cauldron I take, I try it out, otherwise how will I know that the lokum is good. The lokum is the most delicious when it lasts for 15 days and when it gets a thin crust. There are several kinds of lokum, but the best known is the lokum with walnuts. I'm also making a lots of lokum with hazelnuts, coconuts and peanuts, - said at the end the master of lokum Mihajlo.

Original source in Macedonian here