Hungarians

Hungarians (Magyars, Magyarok) are the people who make up the main population of Hungary in Central Europe. On this site their traditions are Gyulai sausage and Szeged salami smoked over beech, Tokaji wine and Bikavér, plum pálinka, the bitter Unicum and acacia honey. Most of these names are protected in the EU and come with official rules.

Gyulai kolbász (Gyulai pároskolbász, Gyula sausage) is a PGI dry-cured smoked pork sausage that may be made only in Gyula and Békéscsaba, in the south-east of the Great Plain. The pigs are fattened to at least 135 kg, the meat is boned by hand, minced with firm lard to 4–6 mm and seasoned with sweet and hot paprika, garlic, pepper and caraway. The sausages are stuffed in pairs into small-intestine casings, smoked over beech for 2–3 days and dried for about 14–16 days until water activity falls to 0.91. From the 1880s caravans of traders from the Balkans heading for the Vienna fairs stopped in Gyula, and the sausage travelled on with them.

Szegedi szalámi (Szegedi téliszalámi, Szeged winter salami) is a PDO, and its rules are stricter. The pigs are Mangalica and its crosses, older than a year and heavier than 150 kg, born and raised in five counties. The batter goes into casings of at least 65 mm, is smoked over beech logs at no more than 12 °C for 12–14 days and then dried for 2–3 months until a greyish-white "house" mould covers the bar. No starter is added: at least ten species of local moulds live on the finished salami. Márk Pick founded his factory in Szeged in 1869, and salami has been made there for over 130 years.

For wine, Hungarians look first to Tokaj. Tokaji (PDO "Tokaj") has eight types, from dry whites to aszú with at least 120 g/l of sugar and at least 18 months in cask; the first mention of aszú dates from 1571. The main grapes are Furmint and Hárslevelű. Bikavér ("bull's blood") is not a grape but a red blend of at least three varieties aged a year in wood, allowed only in Eger and Szekszárd.

Pálinka leads back to the same towns as the sausage. Békési Szilvapálinka covers Békés and 16 communities of the Körös valley, Békéscsaba and Gyula among them: at least half of the plums must be the local red Vörös szilva, the spirit spends at least three months in wooden casks, and sweetening or colouring it is banned. Unicum by Zwack is a bitter herbal liqueur at 40% vol. made with more than forty herbs; legend dates the recipe to 1790, commercial production to 1840.

Honey on this site comes from Magyar Méz Manufaktúra of Budapest. Its acacia honey is shiny golden; the producer says it holds more fructose than glucose, so it does not crystallise. In 2014 acacia honey and the acacia tree itself were added to the list of Hungarian "Hungarikums".

Why it matters to you: on the sausage look for the word "Gyulai" and a pair with a label on one sausage; on the salami look for "Szegedi szalámi" or "Szegedi téliszalámi", the PDO mention and a metal seal on the bar. The full name "Békési Szilvapálinka" guarantees the local red plum, and Bikavér on a label always stands next to Eger or Szekszárd. WHO reminds that no level of alcohol is safe.