Wood Stories: A Roller 2

IN THE KOČEVSKO REGION HOUSEWIVES USED WOODEN ROLLERS FOR A DOUGH, IN THE GOTTSCHEER LANGUAGE »NUDL BELGA« FOR MAKING FINE EGG NOODLES, BUTTER SWEET CAKE »POBOLICE OR STRUDEL«.TOGETHER WITH A PLANK FOR DOUGH ROLLING IN THE GOTTSCHEER LANGUAGE NUDL PRATT A ROLLER WAS AN INDISPENSABLE APPLIANCE OF KOČEVSKO COOKING WIVES.

A wooden roller is a kitchen appliance used for dough rolling. Ist is made of a roll and two handles that are fixed or rotating. It is usually made of beech wood of different length. It can be cleaned in a simple way with a dump cloth. Wooden rollers are the products of woodenware that have been spread in the Kocevsko and Ribnica region from Middle Ages. The inhabitansts were searching for an income and an additional source of living by producing different wooden objects for every day usage. Due to bad natural circumstances-karst terrain, inpropriate soil for agriculture in empowerished inhabitants because of turkish invasions the emperor Friderik III donated the right of free trade with their own products to inhabitants of Kočevsko and Ribnica region in the year1492. That meant an expansion of trade with woodenware that travelling merchants canopies (German Hausirer) sold in Austrohungarian lands until the beginning of the WWII. Before the WWII the crafts that were handed down from generation to generation were separated by the houses.In villages different families produced only one type of woodenware products.

 The products of woodenware were usually produced from autumn to spring when all the other farmyard works were completed; beofe that- during the year- they prepared the necessary material.The word »woodenware« today comprises more than twenty different handicrafted and craft industires: vessel making, spoon making, wickerwork,sieve making, side rim making, wood turning, toothpick making, bottom making, tool making, toy making, souvenir making,

 The wooden rollers are still produced by turners. In the beginning of the fifities in the 20th century the turning business was limited to the villages : Grdi Dol, Podklanc, Sodražica, Sušje, Zamostec, Zapotok, Brinovščica, Hrustovo in Male Lašče. In the Ribnica walley turning used to be a house craft, especially at the mills and homes next to water as they mostly turned on the water drive. Foot turners were scarce. Wood turning was also additional business of Gottschee charcoal producers while they were watching the mine not to burn through.

In the Kočevsko region housewives used wooden rollers for a dough, in the Gottscheer language »Nudl belga« for making fine egg noodles, butter sweet cake »Pobolice or strudel«.Together with a plank for dough rolling in the Gottscheer language Nudl pratt a roller was an indispensable appliance of Kočevsko cooking wives.

Anja Moric
Center for research, culture and cultural heritage conservation