Three healthy Hungarikums to keep in your kitchen!

There are many great Hungarikums that not only taste good but also have amazing health benefits. We chose three of these to present – easily accessible products you should have at home.

Szikvíz

In English, this can go under many names, such as carbonated water, soda water, sparkling water, fizzy water, club soda, water with gas, seltzer or seltzer water. The natural acidic waters, the so-called “Wine waters”, were favoured, especially in Transylvania, but there were similar sources throughout Europe. Soda water was first patented in Dublin in 1809, so the origin of this drink is not Hungarian, but a Hungarian man, Ányos Jedlik, invented how to mass-produce it. In 1830, Jedlik’s procedure of how to produce soda water was published in Vienna, in the form of an article. This was translated from Latin to German. In Hungary, people extract soda water from the bottom of the siphon with the help of a pipe to leave more carbon dioxide in the drink. The same product can be found in other countries as well, for instance, in Romania. But this drink has health benefits, too. Studies have allegedly shown that carbonated water improved dyspepsia and constipation, and carbon dioxide in carbonated beverages induces ghrelin release and increased food consumption implicated in obesity.

Ground paprika from Szeged and Kalocsa