Tula Pryanik

A printed pryanik is made by pressing dough into a board carved in reverse, so the pattern and lettering come out in relief on the surface; the dough is honey and spiced, usually with a filling of jam or condensed milk between two layers, and the boards are cut from pear or birch and last for decades. Tula has made them since at least the seventeenth century, and the trade was in a handful of families who kept their recipes and their boards to themselves, weighing ingredients with stones rather than standard measures so nobody could copy the proportions. Sizes run from small squares to enormous presentation pieces made for anniversaries and exhibitions. The museum shows historical boards, exhibition pryaniki and the making process; several bakeries in the city sell them fresh, which is a different thing from the packaged ones sold nationally. Fresh they are soft; the shelf versions are not.

What you actually see

• The carved boards - reverse-cut wooden moulds, some two centuries old.
• The family secrecy - recipes kept by weighing against stones rather than measures.
• The exhibition pieces - presentation pryaniki made at enormous size.
• The fresh product - soft gingerbread from city bakeries, unlike the packaged kind.

When to go

All year. One to two hours. Buy from a bakery rather than a station kiosk.

Honest expectations

The nationally sold packaged version is hard and dry and gives a poor idea of the fresh product. The museum is small and Russian-labelled. Tula's other museums compete for the same day. Fresh pryaniki keep only a few days.

Nearby

The Tula kremlin and the samovar museum are in the same centre.