Tag: jam

Bálint István – jam and syrup producer

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On the way to Mr Bálint’s house, a black bear was crossing the road slowly in front of us. However, when we passed the place where it had crossed the road, we couldn’t see it. Anyway, both my guides told me that bears have caused lots of problems for people in the countryside, killing domestic animals. Unfortunately, there is no compensation for the loss of one and bears are protected against hunting.

Having arrived, my guide told Mr Bálint about the bear and he told him that it was a bear which was well-known to the villagers.

Although we arrived in the evening, both mother in her seventies and son in his fifties were busy working, preparing products for going to a market in Budapest. Actually, there would be 2 events the coming weekend, one with a honey producer/beekeeper and another one with his mother.

They produce 34 types of jams and 18 types of syrups and the son was putting a large selection of jams on top of a freezer.

She started making products and going to markets in 2009 and he joined her in 2010.

While the son was preparing jams, his mother was preparing zacuscă (RO)/zakuszka (H), a vegetable spread, stirring a red liquid in a kettle on a wood-fired oven with a wooden spoon. The red liquid consisted of smashed beans, aubergine, paprika, onion, salt, pepper, sugar and honey. In fact, there were tubs with mashed beans and eggplant/aubergine, a basket with peppers and a cardboard box with paprika nearby.

They were both working from morning till night in order to get everything ready. However, all their neighbours were also preparing for winter, making jams, syrups, spreads and so on.

In addition to selling farm produce at markets, Mr Bálint has all the required documentation for selling their products in shops.

They have 7000 raspberry bushes inside the village and they have walnut trees inside a 2 hectares plantation. Outside the village, they have an orchard surrounded by a 2.5m fence. Fortunately, they didn’t have any problems with bears.
Like most people in countryside in Transylvania, they also had a chicken coop with various hen races. Surprisingly, a dog was staying with the poultry. Two chickens, one small and one big were living on the lawn under an upside-down basket.

The property was adjacent to the village church and one of the walls of the church formed a wall for the property of this family as well.

Last, but not least, they were collecting herbs, which they would dry and sell at markets.

23/09/2019
Vass Éva – farmer

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When we entered the courtyard of Mrs Vass’ property, we were almost immediately invited into her kitchen where she served us home-made apple cake, but which she called apples with cake. The unavoidable pálinka and coffee were of course also served.

While we were able to eat so much apple cake as we wanted, Mrs Vass told my guide about how she ended up being a farmer. Initially, both she and her husband had full-time jobs, but they were also part-time farmers producing for themselves and their animals and they brought their children to the fields. They gradually expanded and both they and her mother sold farm produce on Saturdays. She worked in a bank and quit 2 years ago becoming a full-time farmer,while her husband worked in a factory. The breakout occurred because of the local council, which organised monthly events where they got lots of help. Before they quit their jobs, they went there 2 times a year, but now they are going there monthly.

There is a lot of hard and wonderful work and it’s become a lifestyle. Their sons are now 25 years old and they will soon graduate as agricultural engineers.

There was a plum festival in the village 3 weeks ago and a 85 year old woman who was always working was stirring the plum must, a job which takes 14 hours to make good jam. Now, she’s dead.

They have 4 cows, 2 stay in the village and 2 are in the mountains. They will come back in October. I suppose they pay a fee to some shepherds to bring their animals with them like we experienced at a sheepfold in the Tarcău mountains.

Having introduced themselves, we were invited outside to to see their products. Although exaggerating, it seemed there were berries, fruits and vegetables in all sorts of places, together with glasses of jam and bottles of syrup.

Big plastic milk churns, having a volume of about 50 litres, were almost filled to the brim with vegetables, various plastic containers were full of blueberries, apples and so on. In the middle of the courtyard, there was a big metal tank with an apparently homemade machine, which was stirring a boiling mixture of fruits. Next, Mrs Vass emptied a tub with de-seeded plums into the mixture. My guide told me that she was making plum jam. One tub was full of tomatoes and another was almost full of red peppers, while two aubergines were being heated on an open gas flame. In fact, they are growing more than 20 types of fruits and vegetables, selling a little of everything.

A young woman, who we were told was a relative and who was studying in Budapest, was de-seeding plums by hand. Only family members are working at this farm and they aren’t able to produce more.

When we had apparently seen all their products, we were invited to go with father and son in their car, first to get an overview of the village, next to go to the family’s orchard. Having crossed rather rough and steep roads, we could the see the village surrounded by meadows and forests. Next, we went up various steep roads to get to the orchard, which was surrounded by a high electrical fence because bears like to enter the orchard. In fact, Mrs Vass’ husband used to stay in the orchard from dusk till dawn and he had a radio turned on, pretending that there were several people inside.

We passed lots of apple trees in the orchard, but they also had some plum trees, 700 all in all. The plums were sweet like honey! They were also growing vegetables. Actually, it was a tranquil, secluded and lovely place and we were invited to eat as much apples and plums as we wanted.

This autumn had been dry and it was a good harvest for plums and apples, but not so good for grapes, apricots, blackcurrant and raspberry.

Since they have cows, they have to do haymaking, but they are also collecting herbs for making herbal tea at the same time.

When we came back to the house, Mrs Vass invited us to have lunch with them, but I felt embarrassed getting so much and returning so little that I asked my guide to say no thank you. Later, I met a young woman who told me that this was common among Szekler people!

At least, we were offered several glasses of jam, which I accepted with relish.

23/09/2019
Szekler Fruit

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The Civitas Foundation ran a regional, community-based economic development plan in the villages of Udvarhely Seat from 2009 to 2011, while it got a grant from Norway grants. The purpose of this initiative was to support farmers and small producers, provide assistance in making their communities more sustainable and provide local livelihoods by taking care of traditional orchards and by making fruit-based products.

Szekler Fruits is a small company which values the manual work of the Udvarhely region‘s farmers, supports the protection of natural variety and guarantees the quality and variety of fruit-based products. Jams, syrups and juices are made from traditional Szekler fruits and wild fruits based on traditional recipes.

Local fruit producers can sell their products to the company or let it process them into jams and syrups for a fixed price per volume unit.

The following products are made at this company:

Apple juice and jam

Bilberry jam and syrup

Elder jam and syrup

Cherry juice

Strawberry jam

Hawthorn jam

Blackcurrant jam and syrup

Rose hip jam and syrup

Blackthorn jam

Pear juice

Raspberry jam and syrup

Sour cherry jam and syrup

Cornelian cherry jam

Blackberry jam and syrup

Plum jam

Green tomato jam

The premises looked squeaky clean with modern machinery, like keeping berries whole in a chamber, then turning them into jam by letting them be surrounded by boiling water in an adjacent chamber.

Of course, there was no activity due to that they start working in August and we arrived in June.

As shown on this page, a fruit festival is arranged annually in this area where locals sell jams, syrups, juices, dried fruits, etc. There is a competition for making the most delicious plum pie and another one for making the most tasty jam.

On our way to this company, it was common to see locals harvesting hay between fruit trees in early summer for feeding their animals in winter.

09/06/2015
Katona Irén – syrup and jam producer

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Driving through the village of Bögöz (Mugeni), we had to enter through a typical Szekler gate in order to arrive at Carved Gate B&B. Inside was a nice garden with a big lawn, a portico adjacent to a stone wall and an insulated roof isolating the inside from the strong heat outside. While the B&B of Irén Katona looks unassuming on the outside, it is an oasis on the inside in hot summers.

Since we were visiting her because of her products, Ms. Katona kindly served us syrup from fresh shoots of spruce, blueberry and elderberry, all of which she had picked herself. Besides, while the bottles were onion-shaped, the labels were custom-made for her products, making them look more personal. Besides picking everything herself, she’s also preparing everything herself in her own kitchen, always aiming for the highest quality and adding as few preservatives as possible. As expected from our first impression, all her syrups were delicious. Besides making syrups, she’s also making jams of blueberry, lingonberry and elderberry, all of which tasted savoury.

Explaining to us the origin of her products, she told us that her guests wanted something special from the area and then she realised that she could serve them her mother’s fruit syrups, which her guests liked very much. She started producing syrups commercially in 2009 having got a grant from Norway grants.

She makes 300 litres of each product yearly and she sells them direct to locals and to customers further away in Romania, Hungary and France. Regarding the latter, a Frenchman from a French travel channel made a programme about her products and guesthouse, then, lots of French tourists started arriving. She also sells her products at farmers’ markets in Budapest and Bucharest.

Ms Katona and her husband are also active in developing the local community and they arrange a yearly summer camp for children where local kids play basketball with German kids, etc.

05/06/2015