Soul of the Bread (Kenyérlelke) festival in Hungary
It was the 5th Soul of the Bread (Kenyérlelke) festival organized this year, and although this was the first time for us to participate, we are sure that this was not the last one. 🙂
More and more people recognize their need for quality sourdough bread, so it is not surprising at all that the number of bread competition applicants is increasing year by year, creating the main attraction of the event. Professional and amateur home bakers also take part in order to find the best winner bread crescents, croissants, baguettes, and wholemeal bread. Besides the many special breads and pastries, traditional goods such as butter crescent were also very popular, being one of the favorite items and a major category of the competition.
The Hungarian Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (ÖMKi) participated in the event as an exhibitor. Our main objective was to show cereals – primarily the lesser-known ancient cereals of einkorn and emmer – produced by the organic farmers taking part in our on-farm research project to the general public. The greatest surprise for the people was that emmer and spelt are not the same cereal. They are both glumaceous cereals being produced for thousands of years, and although both of them have high nutritional value, they are different plant species. Emmer is the ancestor of durum wheat, and it can be used for making different kinds of pasta due to its harder grains, but of course also fine biscuits, more compact bread or pies can be made from it. Einkorn is more well-known. It is also called single grain wheat or ancient wheat since it was the first cereal species produced by humankind. Einkorn bread is made by more artisan bakeries today, but it can be also found in the form of cereal flakes of flour. Furthermore, as disease resistant and drought tolerant varieties are being selected during our research activities, it is expected that both einkorn and emmer will become more widespread in organic farming in Hungary.
Many people asked where emmer and einkorn flours and bread or pastries made of them could be bought. Flour made of cereals selected during our research will be soon produced, but until that time now we share the map of organic companies – developed during the former baker-miller-farmer professional meeting – where you may find emmer and einkorn products: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1vdbk6g60zmlKyErPT-D69k3Y-oQcAoX1&usp=sharing
In the future, we would like to further strengthen the cooperation among all farmers, millers, hullers, and bakers who believe in organic production, in order to collectively increase the sensibility for and the interest towards ancient cereals and organic products made of them. If you did not participate in our former events, but you would like to know where the next professional meetings will be organized contact us through one of the following options:
https://biokutatas.hu/kapcsolat/
https://biokutatas.hu/iratkozz-fel-a-hirlevelunkre/
We would like to thank József Vajda, leader of Pékműhely bakery, one of the initiators and the main organizer of the event, for inviting us to the 5th Soul of the Bread festival and for supporting the use of natural local foods.
See you next year! Until that time follow our website for the latest news on organic farming in Hungary!
