“This year’s pálinkas are of exceptional quality and quantities have also doubled according to figures for the first half of the year”, Minister of Agriculture Sándor Fazekas said at the 3rd Kunadacs Pálinka and Sausage Festival on Saturday.

The equivalent of 1.8 million litres of 50 percent ABV distillate were produced in Hungary in the first half of this year, Mr. Fazekas highlighted.

The Minister stressed that the high quality of 2016 distillates is indicated by the fact that all of the samples for this year’s National Pálinka Competition have already been collected and 172 of the 327 lots have been included in this year’s pálinka book, 70 percent more than last year. “Pálinka is an inseparable part of the Hungarian identity”, he declared.

The Minister also noted that Hungarian pig dinner [a selection of roast pork traditional served to celebrate the culling of a pig] could also be included in the list of Hungaricums. The decision is justified by the fact that it is a true Hungarian folk custom and tradition combining expertise and flavours, and is also a family festivity and community event in rural settlements, as proven by the fact that there are more and more sausage festivals, sausage filling competitions, pig slaughter days and pig dinner programmes throughout the country.

(Ministry of Agriculture Press Office)