Share This Article
I always taste the local food during my trips. When visiting the Czech Republic (which I already know a little), I am always looking for local flavours. During my visit to Masopust Fest in Moravia, I was waiting impatiently to discover a cake that has a Protected Geographical Indication called Frgal.
Protected Geographical Indication
The protected geographical indication (PGI) was introduced by the European Commission in 1992. To obtain them, the product must meet certain requirements:
- comes from a specific place, region or country;
- quality, reputation or other characteristic is mainly due to this geographical origin;
- at least one stage of production takes place in the defined geographical area.
Czech products with protected geographical indications
[column size=one_half position=first ]
- Českobudějovické pivo
- Budějovický měšťanský var
- Budějovické pivo
- Štramberské uši
- Karlovarský suchar
- Hořické trubičky
- Lomnické suchary
- Třeboňský kapr
- Pardubický perník
- Chodské pivo
- České pivo
- Znojemské pivo[/column]
[column size=one_half position=last ]
- Mariánskolázeňské oplatky
- Brněnské pivo, Starobrněnské pivo
- Březnický ležák
- Černá Hora
- Jihočeská Niva
- Jihočeská Zlatá Niva
- Olomoucké tvarůžky
- Karlovarské trojhránky
- Karlovarské oplatky
- Chelčicko — Lhenické ovoce
- Valašský frgál
[/column]
Frgal
Let’s return to Frgal. It was signed in this list in 2006. It is a yeast dough with a diameter of about 32 centimeters and a weight of about 600-700 grams. Almost half of the cake is filling. These can be pears, cheese, poppy seeds, plum jam, apples, apricots or other fruit and nuts. An EU document makes it possible for frgal to be also with cabbage (pickled or fresh) and with carrots. On top they can be sprinkled with crumble, cinnamon or sugar.
They are bought in pieces, halves or whole. It is usually sold in boxes, such as for pizza. Some manufacturers mix a “triangle” with different flavours so that you can try different options!
Frgal entirely costs around 100-130 Czech crowns, but you can buy half or pieces (most often it is cut into eight parts).
We’ve decided on four flavours – apricot, strawberry, nuts and plums – it’s hard to pick my favourite now! It was the perfect snack during sightseeing – sweet and tasty. If Frgal were compared to something we know, it would be a sweet roll that I know from my childhood, but definitely bigger and with more interesting fillings.
An interesting fact is that one of the bakeries (in Palačov) has a special machine for selling this speciality (works 24 hours a day)! Frgal from a vending machine is admittedly 2 centimetres smaller, but it is also a full-fledged product!
