Hungaricums

Hungarian Specialities

Bikavér – Bull’s Blood
When you hear the words „Bull’s Blood” you are more likely to think about the red wine produced in the Eger (and more recently the Szekszárd) wine regions than the hot, red liquid running thought the veins of the horned farm animals. There are several legends explaining the wine’s rather unusal name, the most famous being connected with the siege of Eger Castle in 1552 immortalised in Géza Gárdonyi’s classic novel.
Of all the wines made in the Eger region Bull’s Blood still remains the most famous, despite the fact that there are also some fine white wines, like Leányka, Tramini and Italian Riesling, which are produced in much larger quantities. The grapes are grown in the vineyards covering the gentle southern slopes of the Bükk Hills. Bull’s Blood is a cuvée, a blend of wines made from several types of grape. The wine’s basic character and its colour comes from the Kadarka or the Kékfrankos grape. To this is added Oportó, Medoc Noir, Medoc or Cabernet, depending on the taste of the wine producers in question. Apart from storage there are also many other factors which determine the quality of the wine. Bull’s Blood’s spicy bouquet, and its full-bodied, harmonious, yet sharp taste is known to wine drinkers both in Hungary and abroad. Indeed, it has managed to bring much well-earned attention to Hungary’s other wines.

Béres Csepp – Béres Drops
Here in Hungary this world-famous product has been synonymous with the world health for many decades. Every year millions of people use the medicinal preparation, dreamt up by Kisvárda-born scientist Dr. József Béres in the 1970s, as a way of preventing and curing illnesses. The drops are now know all over the world. After two decades of professional and political struggle, of testing and fine-tuning, Béres’s special preparation containing trace elements and minerals finally appeared in the top category of the medicinal register in January 2000.
Béres drops are used successfully in both Hungary and abroad in the prevention of illnesses, and the treatment of health problems facing people of all ages. Béres drops are among the most popular and best-known medicines in Hungary. Made with scientifically-proved contents the drops have become a symbol of health.

Gyulai Kolbász – Gyula Sausage
The sausages, whose name has become synonymous with the town in which they are made, started out life at the end of the 19th century in what were pretty inauspicious circumstances. One of the most important figures in what ultimately became a great success story was the Gyula butcher József Balogh, whose sausage became popular at the country’s trade fairs round about 1910. It was the efforts of meat producer András Stéberl, which eventually brought them international recognition. Strébel, who learnt his craft in Pozsony, moved to Gyula after the First World War where he was able to benefit from the konwledge and experience gleaned from József Balogh’s family butcher’s, something which was to prove important later on.
He opened a humble little shop, but when things started to happen he built a larger one. Keeping his characteristically seasoned, blended, smoked sausage a close secret Stéberl’s sausages were already winning plaudits. In 1935 his sausages won gold medal at the Brussels World Exhibition.

Herendi porcelán – Herend porcelain
Vince Stingl started production at his potteries in Herend in 1826, and it wasn’t long before he was making his own experiments into the production of porcelain. By the 1840s even Lajos Kossuth himself was contributing to the running of the factory, believing it would be a boon to the domestic handicraft indurtries. By that time Mór Fischer, a man who devoted a great deal of time and energy into producting objects of artistic merit, owned the business. In the following year, 1842, Herend porcelain was shown at the national exhibition of applied arts; in 1845 it went to an industrial show in Vienna.
Herend „white gold” is classical hard porcelain made from a mixture of kaolin, feldspar and quartz, which is then sluiced, strained and pressed. The artefacts made from these raw materials are all made by hand.
It was at the Great Exhibition held in London in 1851 that Herend’s perhaps most famous pattern, a design incorporating Chinese-influenced butterflies and flower patterns painted in fresh, lively colours came to the world’s attention. Queen Victoria ordered a dinner service in gold medal-winning pattern for Windsor Castle. Not surprisingly given the name Victoria. The Herend Porcelain Factory was the Habsburg family’s supplier, and it provided procelain for the aristocracy both at home, producing almost 3000 patterns and 16.000 designs.

Pálinka – Fruit Brandy
The process used for making spirits from fruit is more or less the same wherever you go.
The taste you get in Kecskemét apricot brandy comes from the soil, the sun and the carefully tended trees. Standing where the sand meets the sandy loess the town often feels the effects of the winds.
Edward VIII. once said of apricot brandy: „With soda it’s better than whisky and soda, and added to tea it’s better than tea and rum.

Makói hagyma – Makó Onions
Throughout history the world’s best doctors have written about the beneficial effects of onions. In 1858 Luis Pasteur wrote about their antibacterial properties, Albert Schweitzer showed onions could be used in the treatment of dysentery. Today, medical journals describe onions as being one of alternative medicine’s most important remedies.
Hungary lays a claim for naming onions amongst its list of local specialisties because its red onions are grown from seed all over the world. With the right amount of water, nutrients and sunshine a seed planted in the spring will have onions by the autumn. The low rainfall in and around Makó (580mm a year) would normally mean that the onions are small, but this has been avoided by an introduction of a two-year growth cycle. Because the small onions grown in the first year would normally go to seed in the second year without having produced storable onions of any substance, they are given a special form of heat treatment promoting further growth into the second year. This explains the presence of the special onion dryers in Makó, and the onions you find neatly stacked on the stoves in people’s living rooms. It may sound strange to find onions in the best room in the house, but you have to remember that the onion, apart from being a means of earning a living, is more than a mere vegetable. Makó has a monument, a house, even a festival dedicated to the onion. The two-year production cycle used in Makó means that the onions contain more bio-active material in them than in other onions. The bright red skin (used in many places to make herbal tea) and the ivory coloured insides, with their vitamins, flavour, and 50 types of bio-active materials, all go to make a good Makó onion. What is more, during the first 90 days on storage the flavour of the onions continues to improve.

Paprika
First found in South America it was probably the Turks who brought paprika to Hungary.
The Szeged and Kalocsa paprika traditions date back to the Turkish period, it was then that the plants were secretly grown for medical purposes in the most obscure corners of their gardens.
It was in the middle of the 19th century that Szeged became the centre of Hungarian paprika production. The piquancy of the paprika is determined by the amount of seed and paprika fibre used during the grinding process. During the 1920s Kalocsa emerged as a competitor in the production of mild paprika power. One of the peculiarities in the history of the paprika industry that Szeged’s main paprika growing area is in Röszke, and Kalocsa’s in Bátya and Fajsz. (This is also true for the region’s mills and packing plants.) Nevertheless, the museums dedicated to the industry can only be found in Szeged and Kecskemét respectively.
It was Albert Szent-Györgyi’s research into this vegetable, which was available for analysis in vast quantities all year round, which led him to the discovery of Vitamin C, and his research into how it effected the workings of the muscles. He is the only Hungarian Nobel Prize winner who actually did his research in Hungary.

Szalámi – Salami
The technology required to make salami was invented in Italy at the beginning of the 19th century reaching Hungary a few decades later.
So how and when did Pick salami became the most immediately recognisable Hungarian brand name in the world? The answer lies in the unique basic ingredients, the unique mixture of spices, and the technology used. It was no coincidence that when Márk Pick set up his plant in 1869 it happened to be in Szeged, as southern Hungary had a great pig-breeding tradition.
It is the feed the pigs are given, which gives the meat its unique flavour. The mixture and the quantity of spices used are a closely guarded secret. One thing is certain, however, and that is that there is no paprika in a classic salami.
Hungarian salami culture has spawned two world-famous companies, one being Pick founded in 1869, the other Herz founded in 1888. Although their recipes differ, the technology they use is the same. Despite their long traditions both companies still have the vitality to take them well into the 21st century.

Tokaji bor – Tokaj wine
This world-famous wine is produced in the wine region known simply as Tokaj, covering the triangle between Sátoraljaújhely, the Sátor Hills in Abaújszántó and Tokaj’s Kopasz Hill. The soil, which is of volcanic origin, and its special microclimate, which helps the grapes to ripen, has helped to produce its internationally renowned wines helps the grapes to ripen, has helped to produce its internationally renowed wines (Szomorodni, Furmint, Hárslevelű, and Muscat), all of which are the fruits of many centuries of endeavour.

Unicum
All over the world spirits producers are reaching for fuller flavours and aromas. One already on the market, Unicum, comes from an old Hungarian recipe. Each fruit is distilled when it is at its ripest before being mixed in the quantities required. In this way the spirit itself is also in harmony with the rhythms of nature. Once the distilled fruits have been put into their storage vessel the spirits at the bottom of the vessel begin to acquire a silkier taste and a darker appearance. The bio-active ingredients in the various added spices are absorbed by the spirits, giving the drink itself a medicinal quality.

Zsolnay-kerámia – Zsolnay Ceramics
Following the foundation of the factory in the mid-19th century it wasn’t long before the Pécs stoneware factory had acquired an European reputation. Much of this was due to Vilmos Zsolnay and his family.
The architectural ceramics they made (stove tiles, insulation blocks, wall tiles, decoration), when used in conjunction with the work of their partner Ödön Lechner, was one of the contributing factors to the so-called Hungarian Secession. Zsolnay also invented pyrogranite, which, apart from being frost-resistant, could also be covered in coloured glazes. The most beautiful examples can be seen at the Műcsarnok and the Parliament Building in Budapest, Kecskemét Tower Hall, the Aranybika Hotel in Debrecen, and of course at the Zsolnay memorial fountain in Pécs.

The Halas lace
The founding mother of the Halas lace is Mária Markovits (born in Kiskunhalas, 22 September, 1875, died in Kiskunhalas, 21 October, 1954). The first laces were made in Kiskunhalas according to the plans of Árpád Dékáni in 1902. In 1904 the Halas lace was presented with the Grand Prize at the World Fair in St. Louis.
The Chamber of Trade and Industry registered the Halas lace as a trademark in the spring of 1934. The next year with the leadership of the town of Kiskunhalas and thanks to the Ministry of Trade the still-working Lace House of Halas was built. By 1936 the Halas lace became an international brand.
From 26 January, 1977 the preparing of the Halas lace became a separate branch of folk art based on the qualification of the Folk Art Council.
The characteristic of the Halas lace is that it is hand-made. Around 80 types of stitching techniques can be found in the Lace House in Kiskunhalas.