Hungarian Cheese Festival: the country’s best dairy products in one place – PHOTOS

Raclette, blue mould, parenica: Hungary’s most talented dairy producers were in a tight contest at this year’s Sajtmustra, the country’s largest cheese festival, and “have earned a place among the best cheese-makers in the world”, says an article by Index.

Sajtmustra (“cheese parade”) is Hungary’s largest cheese festival where the best Hungarian dairy producers compete against each other every year. This year’s event – the 8th in the festival’s history – took place on 5 September in Etyek, Hungarians’ favourite place for autumn picnics. As Imre Hegedűs, the vice president of the Hungarian Cheese Makers’ Association (Sajtkészítők Egyesülete), says, this year’s selection shows a great improvement in quality in comparison to previous years.

Other than the competition, the event also hosted a conference where, due to the current border closure, presentations by foreign professionals – Thierry Raud from France and Carlo Piccoli from Italy – were held online.

Presentations addressed the protection of Hungarian dairy products on the market, quality assurance, cheese rinds, the importance of copper kettles in cheese-making, and much more.

The programme usually also includes a fair where visitors can buy some of the best Hungarian dairy products, but due to the current pandemic, this part of the event was cancelled this year.

The winners

For the 8th Sajtmustra, a total of 100 cheese products were nominated. This year’s strong lineup is also shown by the fact that six products won a golden, nine a silver, and ten a bronze medal.

These are the six best cheese products in 2020:

• Home-made butter by Tolbán Sajt
• Cream white cheese by Gábor Tóth
• “Baráthely” cheese cream made of high-fat cow milk by Szimbiózis Alapítvány
• Parenica by Jánosné Csontos
• Raclette by Árpád Ficsor
• Blue mould-matured semi-hard cheese by Magyardombegyházi Sajtműhely

For more information and photos about the event, visit the Magyar Sajtmustra Facebook page.

Read alsoHungarian cheese registered with Protected Geographical Indication

Source: index.hu, Magyar Sajtmustra