Kolomna Pastila

Pastila is made by beating baked apple puree with egg white until it is pale and light, then drying it in layers in a low oven for a day or more; the sour local apple varieties supply the pectin that lets it set without gelatine. Kolomna made it commercially from the eighteenth century and the trade died after 1917, taking the recipes with it. In 2008 a local group reconstructed the process from archives and cookery books and opened a museum in a merchant house in the old town, where the product is made and sold and the visit is run as a costumed performance with tea and tasting rather than as a display case. It worked well enough to change the town: a second museum followed, then a calach bakery, a marshmallow shop and a restored quarter of shops, and Kolomna became a weekend destination. The kremlin and the churches were always there; the pastila is why people now come.

What you actually see

• The reconstructed recipe - a lost confection rebuilt from archive sources after 2008.
• The making - baked apple beaten with egg white and dried in layers for a day.
• The costumed visit - a performed tasting in a merchant house rather than a display.
• The knock-on effect - a bakery, second museum and restored quarter that followed.

When to go

All year. Two hours. Book ahead, especially at weekends; sessions are timed and fill up.

Honest expectations

Visits are booked, timed and performed in Russian, and turning up without a reservation often means no place. The costumed presentation is not to everyone's taste. Prices for the product are high. Kolomna is busy with day trippers at weekends.

Nearby

Kolomna kremlin and the calach bakery are in the same old town.