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SAXON VILLAGE PRESERVES The theme for the European Film Festival was food and events were held through out Romania. To complement the films ADEPT were asked to help organise market stalls to show case traditional food from small producers. At least a third of the producers that attended each event were from Tarnava Mare. These events provided market research on the best locations and consumer buying patterns and led to the establishment of the first formal farmers market in Bucharest on 15th December. Three types of honey are included in the range of preserves: wildflower meadow honey, forest honey and hawthorn honey. In 2008, as the producers became confident they made larger quantities and sales increased five fold. Saxon Village Preserves were represented at trade events in Germany (World Bank funded) and at other Slow Food events in France and Italy. wide media coverage was also obtained. Seven producers attended the Slow Food Terre Madre event in Turin from 26 to 30 October. This was a networking event organised by Slow Food to bring together over 1,600 food producing communities from around the world
The participation was made possible through ADEPT’s collaboration with Slow Food who paid for the producers to attend, transported their produce, provided the trade stand and produced promotional brochures and product labels. The producers were overwhelmed by the extremely positive response to the quality of their jams - notably the sharp flavours due to the high fruit and low sugar contents. they returned to Romania motivated and inspired that their produce really was good on an international market. Four specialists from the Italian Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity, which links high quality food producers to consumers, arrived in Romania on 3rd June 2006 to select symbolic food products for Saschiz producers to launch at the International Food Festival “Terra Madre” in Turin in October.
On 20th June 2006, Carlo Petrini, President and founder of Slow Food arrived with two colleagues to visit food communities in the ADEPT project area. Press conferences were held in Saschiz and Bucharest.
The new Presidium, Saxon Village Jams has been created to capture the ancient tradition of producing differeant kinds of homemade jams, compotes and ‘dulciazia’ (fruits in syrup similar to Bosnian slatko) using the fruit that grows in the garden or that is picked in the uncontaminated woods of this area.
The most interesting jams selected for the Presidium - are that of rhubarb, of rose hip, of mirabele (wild fruit), and of apple and cinnamon. Based on the seasons, mirabelles will be replaced by other wild fruits, such as blueberries, sour cherries, wild strawberries.
The jams are currently only produced for family use and the Presidium represents a new and interesting source of revenue for people who are reliant on agriculture and whose only other source of income is selling milk at very low prices. The ladies who attended the training course on food hygiene in February 2005 are the founding members of the presidium.
Already the group have gained social benefits from meeting like minded people from neighbouring villages and it is hoped that this will form the basis for an active programme of activities. Other food products from Transylvania are listed in the Ark of Taste |
Jam making is an ancient tradition in the Saxon villages, but up until now preserves had been made exclusively for domestic consumption. no attempt at organising production for the market had ever been made. The presidium aims to provide this community - which relies primarily on agriculture and animal husbandry - with a new source of income.
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