Here are Hungary’s best pálinkas

Each country has its national spirit. But original pálinka can only be produced in Hungary from Hungarian fruits. Hungary’s agriculture ministry chose the best Hungarian pálinkas this week. Provided you want to drink some traditional Hungarian and delicious spirit, you should try the products of these pálinka houses since they have been chosen as the best ones in Hungary.

According to origo.hu, the Ministry of Agriculture began the National Pálinka Excellence Program in 2020. “During the Program, the pálinkas were selected from the colourful collection of the pálinka houses, which thanks to their high quality, deservedly represent the sector”, the program’s official website wrote. You may find all the Hungarian pálinka houses HERE in an alphabetic order.

Only those pálinka houses can partake in the excellence program which produce at least the following subcategories of the spirit: uince, Williams pear, sour cherry, apricot, plum, and grape.

The program aims to promote traditional and quality Hungarian pálinkas in Hungary and abroad. There are five categories in which the judging committee decide which products are the best: Pálinka and Grape marc pálinka, gin, distillates, and liqueurs.

The best Hungarian pálinkas

The Ministry of Agriculture created the Pálinka of the Ministry of Agriculture in 2019. They are chosen from the pálinkas of excellence and top pálinkas of excellence. In 2023, 21 pálinka houses and 117 products competed. 48 of them received excellence and 16 TOP excellence certifications.

The most successful pálinka house is the Árpád Pálinkaház since they got four TOP excellence and four excellence promotions. NÉBIH’s pálinka became the Lunczer pálinka house’s premium apricot pálinka. Meanwhile, the Pálinka of the Ministry of Agriculture became 1 Csepp Pálinkaház’s Apricot Aurum pálinka.

Not sure about Christmas gifts? These top-quality Hungarian pálinkas might be your best choice.

Read also:

• 5+1 Hilarious Hungarian stereotypes – true or nah?
• Check out the best Hungarian pálinka of 2022 in THIS article

Government: Ukraine’s EU entry would bring ‘drastic changes’ for Hungarian farm sector

Ukraine’s EU accession would bring with it “drastic changes” for Hungary’s agriculture sector, the head of the National Agriculture Chamber (NAK) said on Friday.

Balazs Gyorffy told MTI that the addition of an agricultural area equalling roughly a third of the EU’s territory would fundamentally upset the current farming support and food security system.

Ukraine today is in no way fit to join the EU, Gyorffy said, adding that it was impossible to predict the consequences of the country’s EU membership for the European and Hungarian farm sectors.

Gyorffy said Ukraine could not even meet the criteria set for EU farmers and food producers. He said that Ukraine potentially not having to meet those conditions or adhere to the relevant laws would distort competition in the sector.

He said the suggestion that Ukraine could be admitted to the EU through a simplified accession process was unfair to the countries that had been striving to meet the bloc’s strict criteria for several years or even decades. Referring to the Balkans, Gyorffy said those countries had been making strenuous efforts to fulfil the criteria set by Brussels.

“Applying different rules of procedure and principles to the accession of certain member states would destroy the credibility of the functioning of the EU,” he said.

Ministry: Natural environment improves on 180,000 hectares under KEHOP

Natural environment quality has improved on 180,000 hectares in Hungary with the help of 101 projects supported with some 39 billion forints (EUR 102m) worth of funding under the EU’s the KEHOP operative programme for environmental and energy development, the agriculture ministry’s state secretary for nature protection said on Friday.
Utilisation of funds under the framework’s current cycle coming to a close has been 107.5 percent, Andras Racz said, adding that two-thirds of the projects were aimed at the rehabilitation of habitat and the rest at the rehabilitation of wetland.

He noted that over 21 percent of Hungary’s territory, 2 million hectares, is protected Natura 2000 area and more than 9 percent, about 850,000 hectares, is a protected natural area of national importance. “This is a good ratio compared with other European countries, but continued intervention is still required since those areas are fragmented,” said Racz.

Hungary’s national parks attract on average 1.6 million visitors per year, 500,000 of whom visit sites with caves, Racz said. The country has two Global Geoparks listed by UNESCO and 4,000 caves, he said.