An important part of traditional diet, fruits were considered a source of food in all seasons, being a consistent alternative during fasting periods, whether they were freshly consumed, or kept in the cellar or turned into marmalade (sometimes called “lictar” or “silvoiță”). Some of the fruits were dried for consumption during long winters. These dried fruits were part of the daily diet, especially during Lent when they were boiled and the juice was consumed with polenta, bread or corn. In order to dry the fruits, usually during summer or autumn - especially apples, pears and plums - a trellis was used (which could be round, oval or square) made by interwining twigs between two boards.
Being easy to handle, the trellis could be placed in sunny areas in the daytime and moved to dew shelter in the evening. For larger quantities of fruits, special ovens for drying fruit were used, and thus, a trellis was also used. The following image shows a type of trellis. The artifact entered the collection in 1959, it originates from Bicălatu, Cluj County and it can be seen in the permanent museum exhibition.