Traditional Food Technology in Poland
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CULTURE AND NATURE: THE EUROPEAN HERITAGE OF SHEEP FARMING AND PASTORAL LIFE RESEARCH THEME 8: FOOD TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH REPORT FOR POLAND By Helena Buńda MUZEUM KRESÓW W LUBACZOWIE NOVEMBER 2011 The CANEPAL project is co-funded by the European Commission, Directorate General Education and Culture, CULTURE 2007-2013.Project no: 508090-CU-1-2010-1-HU-CULTURE-VOL11 This report reflects the authors’ view and the Commission is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained herein Traditional technologies of food production based on sheep breeding /diary product, meat/ A.Transport.............................................................................................................................................. 3 B.Infrastructure ....................................................................................................................................... 7 C.The process of production ................................................................................................................... 7 Oscypek ............................................................................................................................................... 8 Redykołki ........................................................................................................................................... 11 Bundz................................................................................................................................................. 12 Bryndza.............................................................................................................................................. 13 Żentyca (zyntyca)............................................................................................................................... 13 Gołki................................................................................................................................................... 13 D.Trade and the commercialization process......................................................................................... 13 E.The social capital ................................................................................................................................ 14 F.Know‐how........................................................................................................................................... 15 G.Feasts, festival, rituals........................................................................................................................ 18 A.Transport In the past in the Podhale region there was this saying “the one who has sheep is the one that has whatever he wants”. Nowadays, one can say that is is a slogan that has nothing to do with the reality. Pastoralism and all sheep products constituted a very important branch of economy in the Tatras where a severe climate and a less fertile soil limited the abilities of life of the local community. In his work “O mieszkańcach gór tatrzańskich. Najdawniejsza monografia etnograficzna Podhala” (in Eng: “About the Inhabitants of the Tatra Mountains. One of the Oldest Ethnographic Monograph of the Podhale Region”) L. Kamiński wrote that “one of the most needed, useful for them animal was a sheep”. It was because of the fact that costs of the maintaining were low and there were many benefits a farmer could get out of it, namely food, clothes and money. Il. 1. The sheep pasturage in Podhale. Phot. Diana Woch, 2011 The peculiarity of pastoralism from the Tatra Mountains and the law regulations concerning the milk products caused that the whole technological process together with transport have the local character. It means that from a place a milk is produced (pasture land) it is then transported to szałas (a wooden hut located on a pasture land) where it is pasteurized and processed. Sheep are milked to gielty – a wooden vessel that is also used to carrying the produced milk to a place where it is further processed. Because of the small distances and the amount of milk such a vessel for a milk transportation is enough. What is more, gielta is made out of a wood that does not change its taste. In the Podhale region the most popular breed of sheep is cakla which because of the Transylvanian and Frisian breed mixture has one of the best features for animal breeding. One of the best partners of sheep has always been a cow which milk in adequate proportions supplemented the sheep milk composition in the production of oscypek and constituted a food for the local community. Il. 2. Milking sheep in Hala Pięciu Stawów. Phot. Z. Kamykowski, 50s the twentieth century (The collection Tatra Museum in Zakopane) According to Z. and W. Paryscy in “Wielka Encyklopedia Tatrzańska” (in Eng: “Great Encyclopaedia of the Tatra Mountains” (edited in 1995, p. 886):”In the interwar period each year around few thousands sheep were grazing in the Polish Tatras. After war, in 1946, it increased to 30 000 sheep, and then as result of Great Redyk (time when shepherds with sheep are going to pasture lands and returning from them) and a redemption of pasture lands, it started to fall (in 1967 there were only few thousand of sheep grazing in the Polish Tatras). The number of cows (with heifers) counted in some years two thousands , and sometimes even three thousands in the Polish Tatras”. As a result of the constant growth of the number of sheep, after the war some discussions started concerning with the destructive role of pastoralism in the Tatras. Thus, in order to protect the wild nature, both fauna and flora, there were taken actions which main goal was to turn out sheep from the Tatras’ pasture lands to the Pieniny mountains. This process was known as the Great Redyk. Il. 3. Cooking milk ("warzenie") in the boiler (Podhale). Phot. Z. Kamykowski, 50s the twentieth century (The collection Tatra Museum in Zakopane) In the 1980s there were taken some actions which led to the reintroduction of the process of grazing to the Tatras. It was caused by the shepherds who claimed that it is their tradition and they are obliged to practice shepherding in the name of the land they came from. Moreover, there were many natural factors that were in favour of the reintroduction of the process of grazing to the Tatras for it was noticed that the absence of sheep on pasture lands had an impact on flora – pasture lands started to overgrow, some species of plants disappeared that were introduced to pasture lands because of the grazing of sheep and other animals. As a result of these actions, it was decided that the pasturage of sheep should be reintroduced to the Tatras, the so called cultural pasturage. It is being realized on the basis of the regulation of the Tatra National Park where bacas (shepherds that guide herds of sheep) sign an agreement with the management of the Tatra National Park. The realization of the activities within this agreement is strictly monitored by the TNP. The agreement determines the number of sheep (up to 1500) and cows, the place of pasturage, baca clothes, shepherds’ clothes and the technical and aesthetic condition of bacówka (a hut of baca). The main goal of the pasturage is the reintroduction of the former natural balance in the Tatras landscape and the continuation of customs and a rich tradition connected with pastoralism. Il. 4. Cheese production in the pastoral family hut Miętus (Zakopane). Phot. Tadeusz Zwoliński, 1922 (The collection Tatra Museum in Zakopane) B.Infrastructure Szałas (a kind of hut) is the main object on a pasture land. It is made out of wood on a stoned foundation. There is a bonfire and place to produce oscypki. Szałas is also a place where shepherds live. The primitive form of szałas was koliba – it was made with the use of natural rock walls to which the rest of walls were built and covered with planks. Except for szałasy there are many other objects on a pasture land: • Sheds for hay – they appear on pasture lands where there is “a meadow economy” • Stable for the cattle and horses • Milking place – a kind of an extension of a hut that is used when the sheep are milked • Komornik - a roof next to a hut where the cheese is dried • Budka – an object where the shepherds stay while they are guarding herds of sheep in the night • Kosory – permanent or temporary fences for sheep • Mraźnice – permanent fence for sheep made out of stones and branches of the mountain pine • Strągi – fences used while the milking of sheep Bacówki (szałasy) are located in the unbuilt green areas where the amount of grass is enough for the time of the whole pasturage (pasture lands in Tatras, areas in the Pieniny mountains, the Bieszczady Mountains and others), with an access to water, mostly it is a well or a natural source. According to the requirements regulated by the rules of law and giving a protected name of origin the quality of water used to the production of oscypek is monitored by the proper authorities. C.The process of production In the Tatra Mountains there are produced cottage and smoked cheeses which because of the technology of production have their own unique taste and smell, and the process of pasteurization makes that they are safe products (there aren’t known cases where someone would get sick after eating oscypek). Out of sheep milk one can produce oscypek, redykołki, bundz ( or bunc), bryndza, żentyca (zyntyca). From a cow milk one can made popular gołki, or small cheeses that have a shape of oscypek. Because of the identification of the quality trade the prepared products are sold in wrappers labelled