8 unique Hungarian products that the world loves

Although chimney cake, goulash soup and paprikash are the best known Hungarian meals, many other award-winning Hungarian products deserve attention, like craft chocolates or liqueurs with hundreds of years old recipes.

Index has collected some of the best Hungarian products that gained recognition in the past years and some that are not known widely but are the results of excellent craftsmanship, good quality, hard work and lots of experimenting.

Hungarian chilli sauces

Although paprika is quintessential to the Hungarian cuisine, Hungary is not specialised in chilli. Because of this, the sauces and the chilli produced by those few Hungarian growers are not only unique but have proved their excellence in international competitions.

The first Hungarian chilli sauce that the world became interested in was Spirit of Attila, produced by Chili Hungária.

Spirit of Attila was the champion of the ‘hot’ category at the 2015 World Hot Sauce Awards. In 2016, Kabai Tüzes Mennykő (Fireball) placed second in the ‘hot sauce/medium’ category.

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In 2019, Ale Mango Habanero, produced by Gabko Chili won the world’s best chilli sauce award at World Hot Sauce Awards.

The herbal liqueur of the Monastery of Pannonhalma

During lengthy research at the beginning of the 2000s, the monks of the Pannonhalma Abbey have found a recipe collection by a Bavarian monk, Elek Reisch, dating back to 1735. As all monks did centuries ago, Reisch made use of the herbs’ healing abilities and wrote down the recipes that he came up with.

The monks who found his recipes some years ago began experimenting with them, with the aim of creating a traditional liqueur.

Since the monastery was not equipped with the distillery needed for such an endeavour, they partnered up with Agard Distillery. The herbal liqueur that they produce together became known all across the globe for its appetising abilities and how well it aids digestion.

Acacia honey

The acacia was imported to Hungary by Sámuel Tessedik 3 centuries ago to stabilise the sand, but the acacia forests of Hungary produce such great quality honey that it quickly became one of the most favoured trees in Hungary.

Acacia honey is one of the lesser-known Hungarikums abroad, but it is the core element of every market.

It has various beneficial effects: it contains robinin and akacija which possess antiseptic and detoxifying abilities and are great as cough suppressants.

This type of honey also has a high level of fructose, which prevents it from crystallising. It does not have a typical, characteristic taste, however, and its colour varies from almost hueless to mild yellow.

Soda

Even though soda is not a Hungarian invention, it was a Hungarian scientist, Ányos Jedlik, who revolutionised the soda industry in Hungary in the 1820s. He introduced the spout with which water was released from seltzer bottles, this way making sure that the water contained the sufficient amount of carbon dioxide. Later in the 19^th century, bottles with removable metal valves were produced.