After a holiday near the Black Sea coast in the famous resort of Sochi, you want to remember these places for as long as possible. In the company of close relatives, friends, it is pleasant to talk about a happy vacation trip. At the same time, be sure to give them a small souvenir smelling of the sea, the sun, and exotic plants. It is much easier to implement a pleasant tradition if you first find out information about what to bring from Sochi as a gift.
Wine
Good southern wine has long been souvenir No. 1. Red Merlot, white Chardonnay Cru Lermont, sparkling Young Riesling are considered popular brands. If you want to buy homemade wine, you need to clarify information about the manufacturer. Sochi has many quality options for homemade wines. Huge trading rows with local wine work at the Central Market.
It is useful to try their quality during your vacation: buy at the market, visit the Wine Cellar in Khosta, a restaurant on Agur Gorge Street, where drinks are prepared according to their own recipes. The original drink of their mulberry, blackberry is recommended to be purchased in Adler, Lazorevsky. When deciding to buy wine in official outlets, it is useful to focus on the products of Fanagoria.
Hair
An excellent gift for a man will be a beautiful bottle, decorated with a bunch of grapes, filled with a strong drink belonging to the brandy class. This is not local moonshine. The history of making chacha (Georgia, the word “chacha” is translated as “pomace”) goes back to ancient times and developed along with the technology of distillation.
Chacha is a stronger alcoholic drink than vodka, whiskey, brandy. Now the industrial and home production of the drink is actively developing. In 2011, a patent was issued for its production in Georgia.
There are different options for making chacha recipes: not only from certain grape varieties Rkatsiteli, Kachich, Isabella, but also with the addition of figs, cherry plums, tangerines. It is recommended to buy chacha as a gift in shops, small shops selling wine. Private products can be worse.
Smoked fish
It is nice to receive golden, fragrant smoked fish as a gift after processing according to local recipes. Its unusual aroma cheers up, stimulates appetite. You can buy it in the market from local residents involved in fishing, or a factory product of specialized stores. There is an opportunity to get acquainted with the production of a trout factory and buy a souvenir in the shop of the enterprise.
It can be Black Sea flounder, omul, grass carp, trout. But, probably, the package with the Black Sea red mullet, smoked on alder, will be the most pleasant. You can catch a fish, master the process of smoking under the guidance of specialists on your own.
To do this, it is advised to come to the Eco village of Votchina. The process takes place in beautiful gazebos, under a roof with modern smokehouses. You can process a specific batch of fish in any weather. Prices are negotiable.
Spices
Modern methods of cooking have complemented the possibilities of making culinary masterpieces in your own kitchen. The problems of buying a previously unknown vegetable, fruit and making any dish according to numerous recipes have disappeared. At the same time, spices that give them the necessary taste and aroma cannot be dispensed with. Even the smallest package of exotic spices will be a nice gift for any housewife.
Among them are colorful jars, bottles with marjoram, sesame, pepper, basil, cloves, turmeric, cinnamon. And also options for Adyghe salt (ordinary table salt with spices). Spices for barbecue, fish, white meat, lamb. You can buy them in supermarkets, markets, specialized stores.
Adjika
Supermarkets offer a large selection of an interesting product, covered with secrets and legends of the Caucasus. According to one version, it is salt with spices, which the shepherds of sheep took with them. It can be dry and canned.
In its original form, adjika never included tomatoes, sweet peppers, or any other vegetables. The powder was used to add to salads, soup, barbecue marinade. If vegetables are included in the composition, then a paste-like seasoning is obtained, which in different countries was called in its own way (“apyrpyl-jika”, “adzhiktsatsa”).
The classic composition of adjika contains salt, pepper, garlic, cilantro, walnuts, suneli hops. It does not include vinegar, tomatoes, vegetables. Adjika is often called pasta (in the form of a sauce) cooked with carrots, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, eggplant. Apples, plums, spices, vinegar.
Each housewife has her own secret of preparing delicious vegetable mass. But it is better to bring dry, real adjika.
Tkemali
Having received tkemali sauce as a gift, the hostess does not need to invent any special dishes, look for rare products for it. This is a universal, favorite sauce, without which, for example, not a single feast, a simple lunch, takes place in Georgia. Kebabs, chakhokhbili, chanakhi, turkey, pasta, potatoes become tastier with this sauce. Its basis is the usual sour plum growing in any garden.
In some recipes, it is replaced by sour gooseberries, red currants. Garlic, herbs and ombalo (spearmint that does not allow fermentation). Vinegar is not used. The stores offer a large number of sauces from different manufacturers. It is advised to buy as a gift tkemali in bottles with the inscription AIK on the lid.
Honey
Buying honey in any region of Russia does not cause problems. But everyone will want to try a product collected from exotic flowers. Especially if it is hidden in a beautiful bear-shaped bottle. This is the famous Caucasian chestnut honey (it is collected in the Krasnaya Polyana region).
It does not exist in the northern regions. Give it to friends who do not have allergies. Luxurious apiaries are located in the Adler region. Here is the maximum selection of the product produced by the Caucasian mountain bee, which is of particular value to beekeepers.
It is recommended to buy it in stores. Unknown “tent” sellers allow the cultivation of honey with sugar syrup. The famous varieties of Sochi honey include Krasnopolyansky. He is soft and cuddly. It can be found in supermarkets, specialized stores, in the Central Market. For example, in the stores “Pchelka”, “Honey Paradise”, “Good Apiary”.
Jam
One of the most pleasant memories of a summer vacation will be a tea ceremony with family and friends with amazing exotic fruit jam. The smell of strawberries, apricots, raspberries, delicate rose petals, pine cones invites you to the table to enjoy wholesome food without chemical additives, unnecessary preservatives.
Homemade jam, prepared according to the old recipes of the Caucasian cuisine, has gained a new surge in popularity. It is obtained from fruits and berries growing in ecologically clean mountainous areas near the Black Sea coast. Raw materials are collected by hand.
When cooking, microelements, vitamins that are beneficial to health are preserved. At the same time, walnut, chestnut, fig, dogwood, feijoa jam will cause surprise, delight. You can buy it in special shops selling sweets, for example, in the Central Market.
Churchill
You won't have to look for this gift for a long time. The classic delicacy of the Georgian national cuisine is made from nuts and grape juice, prepared according to the ancient technology of obtaining a jelly-like mass called tatara. A tasty, long-lasting product is good to carry as a souvenir.
Churchkhela contains a large amount of nutrients, it is a satisfying, easy-to-digest food product. It is offered to buy it from merchants on the beach, numerous shops, shops, the Central Market (it is customary to bargain here).
When buying, you need to touch the sausage (with the permission of the seller and with gloves). Too hard means that the churchkhela has dried up. A soft product is formed with violations in technology. During use, it will crumble.
Churchkhela comes in many varieties (due to the use of numerous types of nuts). For a gift, you can choose any. During transportation, each sausage is packed separately with cling film.
Pahlava and halva
Baklava (or Sochi pie) can be (not exactly easy) made at home. But to truly feel the taste of this ancient delicacy, to hear the hidden southern aroma of the product, to learn its interesting history, you can receive golden rhombuses of the most delicious baklava from Sochi as a gift.
In different countries, they cook it according to their own recipes, keeping the main difference – this is a very thin dough, a huge mass of nut filling and honey filling. There are many places in the city where baklava is sold.
The main thing is not to rush and buy it before leaving, so that friends and relatives can taste the wonderful delicacy fresh, presenting themselves as a real sultan, sheikh, who appreciated this product.
The oriental sweet halva first appeared in Odessa and quickly became a favorite treat for children. It is produced in different cities, but halva from Sochi has its own unusual taste, determined by a large selection of nuts.
Having prepared a rigid container for reliable transportation, it is proposed to buy sesame halva with the addition of pistachios, melon pieces, almonds. It is useful to remember that halva spread on bread and butter is still considered a popular breakfast in Egypt.
You can try a high-calorie product rich in vitamins and microelements, use it not only as a sweet, but also as an important nutritional element.
dried persimmon
The resort of Sochi is located in a subtropical climate, where a variety of fruits grow in abundance. The desire to bring something home always arises. It is difficult to bring ripe fruits, but it will not be difficult to surprise, for example, with an exotic dried persimmon fruit.
A popular gift looks like a beautiful bundle and costs about 300 rubles. for 1kg. Dried persimmon contains a high percentage of sugars (comparable to the champions figs, dates, raisins) and is considered a natural substitute for sweets.
It is useful for the prevention, treatment of many diseases, which is used by medicine of different peoples. It is offered to buy a gift in the markets, in shops. It is useful to remember the elementary safety rules when using dried persimmons: do not eat it on an empty stomach and do not drink milk at this time.
Interacting with milk proteins, the tannins contained in persimmon harden and cause severe stomach pain. When choosing a persimmon, it is good to buy some fresh chestnuts. Having prepared an unusual dish in the oven, you can once again surprise your loved ones and friends.
Cheese
It is now difficult to surprise the residents of any city with a variety of cheeses on offer. But it is undoubtedly worth trying the famous Sochi homemade cheeses, which have become a very popular product.
Caucasian cheeses are not only suluguni, but also chechil, whose fame is lower than that of the famous suluguni. All cheeses are well stored and tolerate transportation well (in the summer heat it is recommended to take a smoked version for a long train trip).
The classic suluguni has a soft texture, a salty taste, and is available in regular and smoked versions. Smoked products have a longer shelf life. When buying at the Central Market, you are allowed to try a piece.
An original gift will be a pigtail of Chechil cheese (similar to suluguni and is considered the national dish of Armenia). It consists of individual fibers, handmade and woven into an original golden braid. For beer lovers, chechil is considered a gourmet snack.
Tea
Supermarket shelves in Russian cities are filled with exotic teas from all over the world. Among them are packages of different quality, cost, composition. Many of them have all the taste, useful properties inherent in the most valuable ancient drink.
But tasting your own famous Krasnodar tea is an obligatory procedure during a friendly tea party. It is not inferior in quality from distant Indian, Kenyan, Chinese plantations. To do this, it is proposed to visit branded stores “Dagomys tea”, “Matsesta”, “Krasnodar tea”.
Here you can choose red, black, yellow, green tea, known far beyond its borders. It can be packaged in pretty boxes or sold by weight.
Teas (“Century Traditions”, “Krasnaya Polyana”) based on herbal preparations are best purchased in Adler. Now in Sochi there are 6 large and several small factories specializing in the production of teas. A pleasant warm gift from Sochi may consist of well-known brands “Matsesta tea”, “Dagomys tea”.
Shelter
The life of merchants carrying goods to distant lands required special preparation of products for a long journey. Among them, one of the first options for preserving meat was the famous basturma or dried beef tenderloin.
The technology of its preparation is not always simple (now the housewives in any kitchen make a similar product). The original, piquant taste of the delicacy can be felt by tasting a piece of fragrant meat cooked with southern spices.
Among them, the obligatory ingredient of the recipe is soaking with chaman. It contains fenugreek seeds. Replacing with seasoning from local spices changes the taste of basturma. After tasting a small piece of a real oriental delicacy, for almost two days you feel a pleasant aftertaste of spices.
An excellent snack for beer can be stored for a long time. Together with her, it is interesting to try sujuk (the closest relative of bastroma). These are dried sausages made from ground beef, horse meat with a lot of certain spices.
nuts
In addition to the well-known walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios, common peanuts, coming from Sochi, you can treat your friends with rare nuts such as pecans, cashews, coconut, Brazil nuts. It is easy to buy them in the central market in shops.
Many individuals offer shelled walnuts. In the climatic zone of Sochi, there are more and more walnut orchards with trees not quite known to tourists before.
It is useful to know that, for example, the “nuttier of all nuts” pecan (in ancient times it was called Kariya Illinois) cannot be bought shelled. The high fat content leads to rapid oxidation in air and makes them bitter.
As a valuable souvenir, you can buy a jar of nut butter. The surroundings of the resort are buried in thickets of various walnut trees. Courageous vacationers often collect this delicious, valuable product on their own.
Bay leaf
You can talk for a long time about the wonderful properties of the noble laurel that has been growing on the planet since ancient times. On the territory of the southern part of our country, the sacred tree appeared 25 centuries ago and immediately took a special place in cooking and medicine.
Lightly touching the laurel leaves, you can hear the familiar aroma. An amazing fact is the increase in its concentration, strength on the dried plant. This is almost the only gift of nature that does not lose its aromatic, healing properties after long-term storage.
It will be pleasant and useful to receive a bag of bay leaves plucked at the place of growth as a souvenir. Its unforgettable aroma will be heard from the first, second courses prepared by the hostess. By the way, the most complex aroma is formed when using the Californian leaf.
Plant Grow Kit
Walking through the parks, the surroundings of the resort, looking at beautiful outlandish plants, there is a great desire to plant something like this. In order to implement their plans, gain experience as a gardener, a florist is invited to buy a souvenir called the “Set for growing plants.”
There are 4 series of them: indoor, edible, trees, creepers. Thanks to the work of breeders, all plants are adapted to the conditions of central Russia. In the third year of development, they are transplanted into open ground.
Among them are thuja, blue, Canadian spruce, maple, needle, holly, ginkgo biloba, venus hair. The kits provide everything for the effective development of the plant. On the shelves of Adler seed stores, in addition to sets, there is a huge selection of seeds, bulbs, rhizomes. This is an original eco-souvenir for children, people of any age.
Ceramic products
Modern tableware manufacturing technology has filled the world with a variety of goods. It is comfortable, beautiful, different in value. But often, sitting in the long winter evenings in a warm cozy kitchen, I want to see in front of me, to use handmade items made by human hands using ancient methods. It is very good that the number of private pottery workshops is increasing.
There are shops in Sochi selling ceramic souvenirs made by experienced craftsmen. For children, you can always show during master classes all the stages of manufacturing, for example, ceramic toys, whistles, dishes. Many products are offered to buy, give to friends, classmates and talk about the wonderful properties of natural clay.
Krasnopolyanskaya handmade cosmetics
Every year, the world's cosmetics industry fills the shelves with new skin care products. At the same time, the value, consumption of natural, environmentally friendly products is increasing dramatically. This rise is explained by many factors.
The main one is the forced fight against allergies, which is rapidly moving around the planet. The number of health problems is growing along with the use of synthetic drugs.
The solution to this problem is the cosmetic factory, located high in the mountains near Krasnaya Polyana. For the second decade, the technology of soap making and the production of hair care products, based on the use of environmentally friendly raw materials, collected by hand, has been introduced here.
The assortment of the factory originated from handmade soap and turned into a big business that produces numerous cosmetics. It is impossible to pass by beautiful, healing cosmetics (presented in a specialized store) without feeling the desire to buy. Moreover, it will be a wonderful gift brought from Sochi.
Boxwood souvenirs
Before buying boxwood products, you need to remember that now there are no famous factories for the production of souvenirs in the city. Products of local craftsmen, goods from China fill souvenir shops. Boxwood memorabilia occupy a separate place in this innumerable wealth.
Unfortunately, the relic boxwood grove on the outskirts of Khosta is being mercilessly exterminated. Especially, the same Colchis boxwood, listed in the Red Book. It was from it that the famous boxwood key rings, candlesticks, stupas, beautiful planks, and spoons were made.
The plant is formed slowly, plantations are restored after decades. The dried wood of boxwood (or buxus, meaning “freshness”) has an amber tint, hard. It was used to make musical and medical instruments.
According to an ancient legend, the famous flute of the goddess Athena was made from boxwood. Having decided to buy a boxwood souvenir, you need to know that only skillful crafts will be cheap. The same applies to juniper souvenirs, which are in the process of extinction.
What to bring to the child
Shells, magnets, starfish, nautical-themed clothes attract children of all ages. But fashionable jeans, T-shirts. Other branded items are useful to buy at sales or at the place of residence. Their prices are not much different. Sochi has a lot of cheap clothes from Turkey. This is an important moment for buying T-shirts, swimwear, fashionable summer sundresses for rapidly growing kids.
Of the more expensive things, you should pay attention to warm mittens, socks, sweaters, scarves made from the down of local goats. Turkish shops are located near the central market. It also offers products made of genuine leather, fur. For young children, it will be nice to bring delicious sweets, dried fruits, nuts with you and treat your friends.
Where to buy souvenirs
Edible souvenirs are recommended to be brought first. Magnets, nesting dolls, Olympic souvenirs, and other products are everywhere. Of course, starfish and shells brought from the Black Sea are an important souvenir. But the rest (dried fruits, meat products, teas, nuts, honey, drinks), even with a large selection in the local supermarket, are of interest and often differ greatly in quality and taste.
Why not compare. The best places for shopping are shopping centers Alexandria, Mandarin, Olympus, Atrium. Standard souvenirs depicting local attractions, beautiful surroundings are offered at a reasonable price at the Avangard market.