All atricles

Bulgarian Banitsa. Recipe & story

Banitsa is a traditional pastry made from thin layers of puff dough. Home banitsa is an essential part of the Bulgarian tableful. On holidays a “lucky coin” is baked inside: it is wishes, written on paper and wrapped in foil or a piece of dogwood with berries.

Traditional filling is white cheese (sirene/сирене) there are also options with spinach (spanachnik/спаначник), pumpkin (tikvenik/тиквеник), herbs (zelnik/зелник), potatoes (patatnik/пататник), onions (luchnik/лучник), fish and meat. The shape also differs: spiral banitsa is called “sviwnik/свивник”, layered like lasagna “nalozgena/наложена” banica.

Lutenitсa recipe & story

Apart from Bulgaria lutenica is popular in Macedonia, Serbia, Greece, and even in Turkey thanks to their geography, climate and historical ties between these countries. The main ingredient of this chutney is capsicum - a sweet pepper, also known as bell pepper, well growing in Balkan region. Lutenica comes in many varieties, is available in any store and is served either as a relish or as a side to main courses in all local restaurants.

As for texture lutenica can be smooth (“finosmlyana”/финосмляна) or grainy (“edrosmlyana”/едросмляна), according to Bulgarian words “fino/фино” (“fine”) and “edro/едро” (“big”, “course”). This treat is traditionally enjoyed with chips or is spread on breads. It also can be served with grated cheese sprinkled on it, and is spotted to come as ketchup for European dishes.

How Halloween is celebrated in Bulgaria?

They say, Halloween or All Hallows’ Eve based on old English traditions (Irish, to be precise). The name itself is derived from the phrase «Evening of All Saints». Probably, this holiday came to Bulgaria because of its close location to the European countries, where Halloween is celebrated particularly active. All Hallows’ Eve is celebrated on the evening of October 31st.

Bulgaria is a new France

Finest wine, dozens kinds of excellent cheese and lavender fields – these words conjure all that sunny French landscapes in our mind, like Provence, Champaign, Bordeaux and Burgundy. Meanwhile, these beautiful sceneries, treats and gourmet foods can be found in Bulgaria.

Bulgarian souvenirs overview

Despite what people say, tourism remains the major source of income in Bulgaria. Profit from a lavender cultivation, honey gathering and cattle breeding has nothing to do with earnings that the state and its citizens get from a tourist flow.

Purple Gold of Bulgaria: Where to Find Stunning Lavender Fields

The flowering time of lavender in Bulgaria is from mid-June to late August, although some fields can still delight the eye even in September. Interestingly, if you place beehives in a lavender field, you can obtain honey with a lavender aroma, although unfortunately, beehives are not observed in Bulgarian fields. Surprisingly, Bulgaria has a considerable amount of lavender flowers overall.