Smelling of Alder Smoke

For the seventh time taking part in Green Week Berlin,
Lithuania is a well known country to many visitors of this
international forum for the food, agriculture and horticulture
industries. The national pavilion of the country in Grüne
Woche 2009 is furnished by the Ministry of Agriculture and
has a total floor space of 238 square meters. The Lithuania‘s
pavilion is easy to notice as it comes in a form of a replica of
a traditional two storey country house.
2009 is a special year for Lithuania, as the country celebrates
one thousand years since its name was first mentioned in
public domain. A number of events have been scheduled in
commemoration of the vibrant history of the nation and the
state. Participation in one of the largest and most significant
international fairs Grüne Woche 2009 is an outstanding
opportunity for Lithuania’s representatives to present
country’s products and to facilitate successful development
of international business by building valuable contacts.
Presenting cultural and culinary heritage of Lithuania on a
global scene is both a challenge and an opportunity that can
not be overestimated!
The visitors of the international food, agriculture and
horticulture exhibition Grüne Woche 2009 shall be able to
explore national and cultural heritage of Lithuania, preserved
through ages, and presented by family farms, cooperative
communities, small food industry businesses, and artisan
companies. Ancient production processes and recipes go
in perfect accord with contemporary food quality and safety
requirements, this is proved by the Lithuanian products
showcased at the Grüne Woche fair. All the featured products
have been certified by the Foundation for Culinary Heritage
of Lithuania as a part of the culinary heritage of the Baltic
country.
As many as eight exhibitors shall greet the visitors at the
Lithuanian pavilion this year, some of them veterans, some
taking part for the first time. The pavilion shall be catered by
a restaurant chain Bernelių užeiga, building on its success
in previous fairs. Waitresses dressed in folk costumes shall
welcome guests at solid wooden tables in a replica roadside inn to taste such delicacies as boletus soup, a slice of
bread flavoured with caraway and sweet flag, to warm up
with a cup of savoury herbal tea and a honey biscuit, or
test themselves against a temptation of Lithuanian homebrewed beer and a cheese snack.
For the fourth time visitors shall be able to meet herbalist
and pharmacist Jadvyga Balvočiūtė. Referred to as the
wise woman of the Lithuanian meadows, she will charm
the visitors with savoury blends and infusions of the most
precious herb species to revitalise your health and revive life
colours. She will teach how to make an infusion to sooth a
broken heart, to dissipate grief, to bring back the joy of life...
The visitors shall once more meet the people from cooperative
beekeeping community Eko medus, presenting organic bee
products, including honey collected from a variety of plants,
propolis, beebread, and pollen.
Artisans from crafts club Verpstė of the Lithuanian Women’s‘
Farming Society shall present lavish ranges of breath-taking
items made from natural materials native to Lithuania, such
as linen, wool, timber, clay, amber, etc. Amber jewellery,
brass, glass, and deer horn items, earthenware pottery
decorated with ethnic ornaments, diverse handcrafts and
linen toys filled with buckwheat hulls shall be amply available
on display and for purchase.
Countryside Tourism Association of Lithuania will have
something to tell and to show about how unique and
attractive are rural tourism homesteads of various ethnic
lands of Lithuania. The directory ‘Countryside Holidays 2009‘
(Atostogos kaime 2009), freshly out of print, broadly presents
the amenities of rustic holiday settings and provides detailed
visitor information in four languages.
Businesswomen Stefa Strakšienė and Nijolė Šopienė are
glad they are able to introduce their family enterprises at the
world-famous international trade fair for the first time. The
producers of whole milk cheese, Sūris su visa smetona, will
offer a range of gourmet cheeses melting in the mouth.
New to Grüne Woche is also a small family bakery Du Medu
presenting home-made organic bread, baked from wholly
natural dough containing not a single synthetic additive or
preservative, not even yeast. Their range includes black rye
bread, scalded rye bread, scalded bread with whole grains
Rugelis, sugar-free Rugelis bread, as well as many more
delicious Lithuanian breads.
A young meat products enterprise Kanrugėlė, five years in
business and for the first time at the exhibition, deserves
special attention. They present a highly distinguished range
of skilandis, a traditional product made from a pig stomach
stuffed with minced meat, and cold-smoked in alder smoke
and flavoured with juniper berries. The product was awarded
a silver medal in Lithuanian Best Product of the Year contest.
Kanrugėlė brings various kinds of Lithuanian sausage to the
show as well, including skilandis sausage, ‘hunters’ sausage,
and smoked flitch.
The Lithuanian exhibition shall be on display in Hall 8.2. A
replica ethnic village house of two storeys is just impossible
to miss from any distance. The gate is wide open, welcome
everyone!
The Rural Development Programme for
Lithuania 2007–2013 –
for the implementation of the State strategy
The years 2007–2013 are the exclusive period for the rural development. The Rural Development Programme for
Lithuania 2007–2013 (RDP) was approved and started to be implemented. The common goal of the rural development
strategy for the years 2007–2013 is to create the competitive agricultural and food forest farm, the opportunities for
the diversification of the economic activity in the countryside and improvement of the quality of life by sustaining the
environment and preserving the landscape, to create the alternative jobs, and to develop the feeling of community.
The Ministry of Agriculture, together with other state institutions and social partners, while preparing this programme,
followed the concept of the European model of agriculture (EMA). The Rural Development Programme for Lithuania
for 2007–2013 is an equivalent of the European model of agriculture.
European agriculture, as a sector of economy, is multifunctional, characterized by multisectoral rural development,
maintaining the vital and viable countryside. The EMA is sustainable and competitive, covering the whole EU territory,
including also the regions with the specific problems.
The basis of the model is the balance between economic, social and environmental values. It is the necessity of
such balance that predetermines the multifunctionality of rural areas. This means that rural residents are involved
in the production of food, feeds, fibre, energy or their raw materials, receiving for this the remuneration according to
the market laws of supply and demand. However, agriculture, forests and waters – the entire rural area – provides a
lot of other non-commodity values, namely, clean water and air (safeguarding and upgrading of the quality of these
resources), preservation of biological diversity, maintenance and recreation of cultural landscape, waste disposal in the
territory, collection of tangible and intangible cultural ethnic heritage, its preservation, renovation, and exposition in the
natural environment, and adaptation to a new destination. Those values perform an important function of infrastructural
services, used not only by the rural but also by the whole population of the country and foreign visitors. It takes part
of the manufacturer’s costs which shall be compensated, even though all of us, consumers of such products, even do
not think we should also pay for it.
The EU support – for the implementation of the State strategy
The EU support is not just a simple distribution of money. It covers the creation of the sector of the state economy, linking
the diversity of the forms of support with the strategic objectives of agriculture, food industry and rural development
of the country. Social partners, even those, who represent the large-scale sector, understood and maintained the
provision of the European Commission and the Ministry of Agriculture that support shall be granted not only to the
large-scale economic entities, but also to those who according to the viability indicators of the economy today on
the market are on the edge of survival. With the opportunity offered to receive the EU support by the larger number
of economic entities, they would be given a chance to undergo a certain selection – some would become stronger,
modernized and remain on the market, whereas others could develop the alternative businesses in the countryside
and thus to receive the additional income, and still others could apply for environmental measures support.
The EU support under the RDP is provided in four axes: Axis 1 “Improving the Competitiveness of the Agricultural and
Forestry Sector”, focused on the increase of the competitiveness of the agriculture, food industry and forestry sector
(41.5 per cent of the RDP funds), Axis 2 “Improving the Environment and the Countryside” – on the improvement of the
environment and the countryside (36.448 per cent), Axis 3 “The Quality of Life in Rural Areas and Diversification of the
Rural Economy” is aimed at improving the quality of life in the rural areas and diversifying the rural economy (18.25 per
cent), under Axis 4 the LEADER method is implemented (6.06 per cent), preparation of local action group strategies
and their implementation is supported. In total, within this financial period for the RDP measures LTL 7,804 billion was
allocated. The funds, allocated for the concrete year, shall be used during the current and another two years (all the
funds granted for the RDP will be finally paid out in 2015).
If we compare Lithuania and the EU old countries, a level of modernization of agricultural production differs evidently.
In the old EU countries, the farms already are evenly modern, therefore under Axis 1 of the RDP support, intended for
the competitiveness of the farms, support is almost not granted completely.
The Rural Development Programme for Lithuania for 2007–2013 linked the activity started by the investment and
compensatory measures of the earlier EU membership 2004–2006 period, extending and diversifying it. A considerably
greater number of innovations, including support to small farms, were included in the RDP for 2007–2013, as compared
to the previous period. The most significant emphasis of the 2007–2013 programme period is that support measures to
be used by all the agricultural food sector economic entities increased considerably in number. The support measures
are designed for satisfying the most diverse needs of the people of different age and interests.
During this financial period, some 30 RDP measures are being implemented. Each measure is aimed to implement the
specific goals, each one helping to solve the most diverse problems relevant to agriculture and forestry, food sector
and rural development.
Development of the production of qualitative products and satisfying of the needs of the consumers who focus a still
higher importance to the quality of food products are one of the most important factors in implementing the task specified
by the Lithuanian agricultural policy – the creation of agricultural and food industry. The manufacturers of products
of higher quality and marked with certain marks shall undertake certain obligations concerning the conformity of the
product to the requirements of the specifications. The support is necessary to encourage the farmers to produce and
place to the market the products of higher quality. Evaluating the fact that two thirds of Lithuanian farms are attributed
to the category of small farms, the production of certified products of exclusive quality would give the opportunity to the
family farms and small farms to increase their competitiveness, to create the higher added value to the product and
to derive the higher income. With the EU support it will be sought to improve the quality and marketing of products,
supporting the participation in the food quality plans.
Preservation and development of traditional crafts, products of national heritage, like ethnic cultural values, help to
enforce the uniqueness of rural areas and to strengthen their competitiveness. Traditional crafts stimulate tourism in
the ethnographic regions of the country and contribute to the economic development of rural areas, diversification of
the economic activity and creation of the attractive image of Lithuania.
It is sought through the rural development to implement the principle of the even development of the regions, since the
regions with good agricultural conditions from the economic standpoint are much stronger than those existing in the
less favourable lands, where income derived from the agricultural production as well as from the direct payments is
considerably less. It is important to develop those regions by selecting the proper activities for them. To-date not only
rural tourism, the sphere of services and forest business are recognized as the alternative agricultural activity, but also
growing and collection of herbs and spice plants, growing of furbearing animals, mushroom business, bee-growing,
breeding and keeping of rare birds, snail growing, growing of heathberries and willow-trees. The above-mentioned
types of activities are of attraction to more than one farmer; however, their development is being stopped by either too
small possible production volumes or rather high investments while seeking to expand the production. It is not only the
EU financial support, but also the cooperation of smaller farmers that should help to tackle the said problems.
Especially wide opportunities are offered by the RDP together with the Social Fund for training and requalification of
people, and stimulation of entrepreneurship. By joint efforts of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Social
Security and Labour, the needs for training, consultancy, and human resources have been identified. Of special
importance is to make use of business incubators, which will consult people during the first 1–1.5 years, will work
with each almost individually, so that later they will be able to gain a footing and start their business. Experience of
other countries witnesses that a lot of work with people is needed for the stimulation of entrepreneurship. Support
will encourage the development of general services, small and medium sized businesses. In this field, Lithuania lags
greatly behind the average in the European countries.
Programme implementation results
The implementation of the Rural Development Programme for Lithuania 2007–2013 is under constant monitoring
and analysis, where necessary, the programme is being corrected. This programme lasts even for 7 years, therefore
the process of its implementation is very responsible as in a rush you can lose a lot. A serious dialogue with social
partners and the European Commission representatives is successful; account is taken of all rational proposals. The
first amendments to the programme, in fact, are related to the simplification of the requirements for the beneficiaries.
Most popular are those measures of the programme which are being implemented not for the first period within the
programme and are best known and understandable to the applicants. Traditionally, many applications are submitted
according to the measure “Setting up of Young
Farmers”, “Modernization of Agricultural Holdings”,
“Early Retirement from the Agricultural Commodity
Production”. The biggest amount of money was paid
according to the measure “Payments to Farmers in
Areas with Handicaps, Other than Mountain Areas
(Less Favourable Areas)”. The popularity of the
measures “Development of Rural Tourism” and
“Support for Business Creation and Development”
under Axis 3 is especially delightful.
While evaluating the ongoing submission of
applications, it is possible to notice that everything
keeps pace with reality. The distribution of funds
according to Axes, actually, is in compliance with the
requests of the people. It is sought to distribute the
funds rationally, efficiently and, certainly, transparently.
From the beginning of the RDP implementation, i.e.
from January 1, 2007 (the programme was approved
in 2007) to November 15, 2008, 219,000 applications
were received, where support amounting to LTL 1,462
billion was requested. This accounts for 77 per cent
of the support granted in 2007–2008 or 19 per cent
of the total funds allocated for the financial period.
In total, until November 15, 2008, LTL 330,91 million
(17,5 per cent of the amount allocated for the years
2007–2008, which should be paid out until the end of
2010) was paid out to the applicants.
A vision of rural development
The countryside should be strongly changed by the year 2013, especially in terms of the diversity of farm structure.
Alongside the agricultural activity, a greater number of the enterprises offering services, rural tourism objects, especially
in the areas, unfavourable for farming, will come forth. The community feeling will strengthen, this allowing to take
strategic decisions and to implement them in the countryside. The countryside will become a more attractive place for
life and work, the number of young people, creating here their future, will increase. The Lithuanian countryside with its
natural environment, attractive recreation zones and the developed rural tourism will become still more popular as the
place for recreation. In the rural tourism farmsteads, the living traditions of the areas will be presented, visitors will be
treated to the dishes of cuisine heritage, prepared using the products of local origin. Local crafts – weaving, knitting,
cutting, wickerworking, smithery, pottery, ceramics and the like – not only will diversify the economic activity and will
derive income for the rural residents, but will also cherish the ethnic cultural heritage. With the EU assistance, through
the measures under the 2007–2013 agricultural and rural development programme for Lithuania, the innovations in the
countryside will match successfully with history, culture and nature.
Restaurant Chain Bernelių užeiga
has a range of Lithuanian culinary heritage dishes
to meet the most sophisticated taste
Bernelių užeiga has pleased the visitors of the International Green Week Berlin before with a rich variety of traditional
Lithuanian cuisine, and the atmosphere breathing ancient times and ethnic spirit, and will do it again. Bernelių užeiga
was the first catering establishment in Lithuania to be awarded a certificate of the Foundation for Culinary Heritage.
This is an acknowledgement proving the restaurant chain reflects hospitality and catering experience accumulated
over centuries and conveys hospitality traditions and culture of different ethnic lands of Lithuania in all its activity,
starting with the atmosphere, welcoming and serving of the guests, through to its cuisine, by reviving traditional food
serving techniques.
As you drop by at one of our restaurants
styled as a traditional road-side inn, you
would sit at a solid wood table covered
with a linen table cloth. While you
await for your order to be served, you
can enjoy our rich interior decorated
with ethnic motives and village home
appliances. Waitresses dressed in
national folk costumes shall be able
to offer your to taste some rye spirits
(we call it “devil‘s drops“). Ūkininko
užkandėlė (“Farmer‘s snack“) will go
perfectly alongside, as well as a slice
of smoke flavoured skilandis or bacon,
and black rye bread. For those who
prefer lighter foods, we have something
to please them as well: honey biscuits
baked according to grandma‘s recipe
with savoury herbal tea, bread flavoured
with caraway and sweet flag, farmer‘s
salad with smoked ham, buckwheat
pancakes, apple cheese, as well as
many more ancient dishes.
After a light snack you can have a rich dinner with traditional Lithuanian meals: trademark boletus soup served in a
hollowed out loaf of black bread, zeppelins, and a range of mouth-melting savoury roasts.
The restaurants and road-side inns of the Bernelių užeiga chain are a perfect alternative to contemporary paced
lifestyles bringing back to life traditional hospitality and food serving customs of Lithuanian folk.
The restaurant chain was launched on 28 August 1999 with the first Bernelių užeiga opening its doors in Kaunas, the
Lithuania‘s second largest city, in a refurbished building that accommodated a Bernelių užeiga previously, in the soviet
era. It is the only building of wooden architecture heritage of the early 18th c. surviving in the Old Town of Kaunas.
Presently, Bernelių užeiga has four restaurants and a summer outdoor café in its chain, and plans to grow further. Do
not miss the occasion when you happen to be in Lithuania...
Organic herbal teas
open the door to a rich world of the Lithuanian flora
Jadvyga Balvočiūtė’s herbal teas provide an excellent opportunity to step
into the rich world of Lithuanian herbs, to experience their effects on the
body and soul, and to rejoice in the natural aromas and a motley range
of colours.
One of the country’s most renowned herbalists, pharmacist and
pharmacognosist Jadvyga Balvočiūtė has rejoiced in an invitation from
the Ministry of Agriculture to participate in Grüne Woche 2009 as a part of
Lithuania’s stand. For the fourth year in a row she will delight the visitors to
the International Green Week Berlin fair with an outstandingly rich choice
of herbal infusion blends.
Organic teas – for curing sickness and enjoying health
“I would advise anyone who has caught a cold during the day to do just
what I do: treat yourself to a herbal infusion in the evening. It has to be
as warm as possible and must be drunk in substantial mouthfuls. You
would sweat it out and feel better by the morning. A variety of herbs can go in the infusion, including peppermint, mint,
German camomile, and oregano. Should you cough or feel pain in your chest, primrose flowers and leaves will help.”
The pharmacist never seems short of relevant advice. Plantain leaves would help to relieve a dry cough. Should the
cough be too ‘wet’, this must also be remedied by adding rowan flowers to your infusion, which have a disinfecting
effect and help to suppress excessive coughing. To facilitate sweating, linden flowers and raspberry canes are the
medicines of choice. Raspberry canes are helpful for improving immunity as well. Both common mallow and cluster
mallow as well as marshmallow help to relieve a cough. Mixtures containing coneflower are helpful for treating chills
in the elderly.
The pharmacist seems to be able to pick the right herb for nearly any known malaise, and to prepare a medicinal
mixture according to a doctor’s diagnosis. She offers blends containing herbs with gentle revitalising action, such as
Žemaičių žolės, Lazdynas, and Rasakila. The herbalist advises us to sip teas with common hop or garden valerian to
treat insomnia, while those suffering from anxiety can find relief in the soothing ‘bright mood infusion’. It is also helpful
for getting rid of such dangerous habits as smoking and alcoholism. For the little ones Jadvyga has a gentle tea called
Pumpurėliams, blended with herbs beneficial for the developing body.
Still a pioneering branch of organic farming
Medicinal herbs farming has not yet become a traditional business in Lithuania. The Jadvyga Balvočiūtė Organic Farm
situated in Žemaitija cultivates over 100 species of plants supplying over 140 different kinds of raw materials, including
the flowers of pot marigold, the leaves and seeds of various species of amaranth, the flowering tips of buckwheat,
valerian root, etc.
Plants that come from their natural habitats (such as meadows, woods, fields, water courses, etc.) are an important
supply for the production of medicinal blends too. Wild plants are picked in ecologically certified areas in accordance
with the requirements of a Wild Plant Picker Certificate. The farm’s picking range comprises a total of 180 kinds of raw
supplies provided by 151 different species of plants.
Jadvyga’s greatest wish is to promote the use of herbs of European countries for tea infusions, and to encourage
people develop an interest in the flora of their locality. She also tries hard to collect and preserve swiftly vanishing
knowledge on the application of herbs and their profound effects on health. Participating for the fourth time in Grüne
Woche, Jadvyga is well aware of the appreciation by the visitors to this major German fair, as well as the visitors to
many other fairs around, of green lifestyles, as well as of their concern for a clean environment and the preservation
of our culinary and cultural heritage.
Organic bee products –
a delicacy and a medicine
Agricultural cooperative Eko Medus participated in the International Green Week Berlin for the first time last year. This
year Eko Medus gladly returns to the exhibition to share their built up experience and organic bee products, both a
delicacy food and an efficient medicine, with the visitors.
“Our bees live in a natural environment, in woods, forest meadows and outskirts with no settlements, and no intense
agriculture undertakings present“, explains Roma Mačienė, a member of the cooperative, nominated the Queen of
Bees in 2003. “We have brought buckwheat honey, forest and meadow honey, beebread, beebread with honey, pollen
and propolis to the exhibition“.
Buckwheat honey is a dark honey with slightly pungent odour and taste, and has a high content of iron beneficial
for those having low blood pressure or exposed to a threat of anaemia. Forest honey has a lesser content of iron
although it is very rich in minerals, such as phosphorus, potassium, calcium, etc. It is lighter in colour compared to
buckwheat honey and has an outstandingly gentle and pleasant taste and aroma. The honey of this kind helps prevent
cardiovascular diseases and relieves such disorders should they already be present. Meadow honey is collected by
bees from a wide variety of plants blossoming throughout the summer season. It is light in colour with gentle flavour
and aroma, perfect to cure chills, and to relieve gastric and liver disorders.
“By the way, honey should not be put into water, tea or any other drink, as it looses a part of its beneficial qualities
when dissolved, and its effect is reduced”, cautions Roma Mačienė. “The best way to consume honey is to eat it while
seeping warm tea. This way our metabolism is able to best acquire all the beneficial ingredients of honey. All bee
products have a revitalising effect making them most suitable to consume in the morning. They improve your mood,
and provide with energy for entire day, in addition to strengthening your immune system. Honey is a delicacy food, and
a friendly medicine”, concludes Roma Mačienė.
Pollen is known to improve appetite, to help sooth a sensitive nervous system, or an irritable stomach. It is highly
beneficial for women during menopause since it contains some ingredients closely resembling natural hormones. On
the other hand, it is counterindicated for the adolescent, as it may accelerate maturation. Put 15 grams of pollen in
boiled water while it is still warm in the evening and leave it throughout the night. The pollen would be swollen by the
morning and should be consumed half an hour before breakfast. Should you dislike the taste, pollen can be mixed
with honey to sweeten it. Since honey acts as a preservative, prepared pollen can be stored longer this way. Pollen
has a strong revitalising effect and should not be consumed in the evening as it may prevent you from sleeping. It is
recommended to consume pollen within a year since it is collected, as it looses curative effect afterwards.
Beebread is a product with a long shelf-life since it contains milk acid acting as a natural preservative. Beebread is
good for all ages, the little ones, and the elder as well, to relieve stomach and vascular disorders, constipation, to
sooth aching throat. It is highly beneficial after a surgical intervention, especially in case of oncological disorders, while
recovering from a flu, and to prevent prostate disorders. Its effects help strengthen the organism and reinforce the
immune system.
Propolis is known to act as a natural antibiotic. Its effects seem to be a miracle when it is used properly. It is good to
rub aching joints, to rinse the mouth, to relieve bronchitis and even pneumonia. The visitors of the International Green
Week Berlin will be offered propolis accompanied with necessary prescriptions of use and instructions how to make a
spirit, oil or a different solution of this medicine.
Cooperative Eko Medus has five members working in no lesser accord than the 500 bee families it keeps. The
beekeepers came together because of the understanding cooperation, instead of competition, facilitates successful
growth of enterprise, where all members supplement each other. The beekeepers have used Governmental
support for development of cooperative enterprise made available in 2006, serving as an important impetus for their
undertaking.
“I am more than sure it is our purposeful efforts, our complete focusing on our work, inquiring into the depths of the
expertise and continued learning that have helped us achieve outstanding results“, says Roma Mačienė. “We have
been dealing in the entire range of bee products, including honey, pollen, beebread, propolis, bee‘s wax and milk. Due
to a seasonal nature of the business, we also provide beekeepers with a range of processing services. The visitors of
Grüne Woche 2009 may take pleasure in our best organic bee products“.
The beekeepers preferred organic farming due to their personal beliefs about humans being an integral part of natural
world affected by natural laws. This is how Roma Mačienė describes the idea beyond organic farming: “When we do
something detrimental to natural world, we face harsh consequences. This is why we have chosen to produce healthy
products. We are able to enjoy living in harmony with the natural world and ourselves“.
“...Cheese With Cream...”
“This is the name for the various un-ripened cheeses made in a traditional way by natural milk: sweet or sour milk
cheeses, with caraway seeds, dessert cheeses, cheeses with various herbs and garlic, spicy, for special occasions
and others. The milk is boiled in water, in a steam pot of 100 litres, then the sour milk is poured”, – about the cheese
production method of North Lithuania tell two nice ladies, the representatives of family farms Stefa Straksienė ir Nijolė
Sopiene, who three years ago were awarded the certificate by Culinary Heritage Fund. The received protein mass is
poured into separate utensils, then the spices are added – salt, caraway seeds, garlic, tarragon or others, depending
on what cheese is made. Further the mass is emptied into special cloth bags, sewn particularly for this purpose, which
then in wooden press are squeezed until all the liquid runs out of the mass. The size and form of the cheese depends
on the size and form of the bag. There is a whole assortment of them – from a tiny one which is meant to make souvenir
cheeses to the one in which a cheese weighing a kilogram or even more fits in. The cheeses made from fresh milk
and stored in a cold place can be kept the whole month, they do not go bad, because are quite fat. They only become
slightly drier which makes them only tastier...
Women say that from old times cheeses are a must in both weddings and funerals in Lithuania – the guests are not
only treated to them, but also given to take home in a goodie bag for the household.
Cheeses and other milk products have been produced by women for more than 10 years. To develop their business
women assimilated EU support for semi-subsistence farms. They both joined strengths together and bought a minibus,
refrigerating equipment. Women also milk the cows, make the cheeses, as well as sell them in various exhibitions, fairs
and other festivities themselves. All the work is done by only two of them, no help is hired.
Positive customers‘ feedback about delicious, melting in the mouth cheese, acknowledgements of Committee on
Rural Affairs of Lithuania “For the Spread of Customs and Traditions“ 2007, Siauliai Trade Fair exhibition’s nomination
”Exhibition product 2008“, acknowledgements of districts‘ municipalities – all that makes women happy and motivate
to work harder in order to make better and even more delicious cheeses.
“A trip to international exhibition “Green Week 2009“ is especially honourable and committing. We want to show
ourselves and to look at others. We hope that our homemade cheeses from the North of Lithuania will cater to the
tastes of both visitors of exhibition and the participants“,– say two hard-working women Stefa Straksienė ir Nijole
Sopiene, both dressed in white as if born of milk.
Ecological Bread
is Both Healthy and Delicious
A small bakery “Du Medu“ run as a family business produces ecological,
healthy, natural and the most important very delicious bread of various types.
The crop is grown in the family farm where the bread is baked following
ancestral traditions. The fact that everything is taken care of by one family is
its biggest quality guarantee.
The dough is made without any synthetic additives, preservatives or yeast.
Every loaf is formed manually. “The bread stays fresh, does not become stale,
dry or changes its taste. This is so because of special technological process,
which nowadays, as in the old times, is equally long and not sped by any
additional measures”, says the owner of the bakery Mr. Vytautas Rasisckas
from Prienai region.
Black rye bread contains almost everything that a human body needs, that
is: carbohydrates, proteins, fat, mineral salts as well as vitamins. The bakery
offers scalded rye bread, scalded bread “Rugelis” with grain in the contents
of which are – ecological rye, wheat flour, sourdough, malt, caraway seeds,
sugar, salt and water. Scalded bread “Rugelis” with grain and without sugar
is especially valued by the customers particularly taking care of their health
and those who cannot use sugar because of their health.
Bread of various types is supplied to stores specializing in ecological and
healthy food.
The Highest Quality Traditional
Lithuanian Meat Products
Smelling of Alder Smoke
Young, just five years old, meat processing
company ”Kanrugėlė“ uses traditional
Lithuanian formula for production of meat
products, therefore it has been awarded a
Culinary Heritage Fund‘s certificate and a
silver medal for high quality cold smoked
rounded sausage (Lith. skilandis) in the
year product‘s competition organized by
Lithuanian Confederation of Industrialists.
The head of the company Mr. Virgaudas
Kanauka told that the company with 51
employee produces more than 40 kinds
of meat products. Only quality meat is
bough, which is trimmed manually. This
is especially important in the production
of rounded sausages when hind pork
leg is used. Meat and fat are cut in small
cubicles. Then the mass is salted, some
peppers and a lot of juniper berries are
added. Further the seasoned meat is
left for over a week to ferment. Later it
is stuffed into a pork‘s bladder, pressed
by plates and left for another week. Only
then rounded sausage is hanged into a
smokehouse where it is smoked for two weeks in alder smoke. And that is not all, after a smoking process rounded
sausage is dried until all the moisture evaporates and only then one can enjoy the true taste of it. Distinctive taste and
smell, which is so loved and valued by elder generation, is achieved not by spices or meat itself, but by pig‘s bladder,
without which the production of traditional rounded sausage would be impossible.
”Kanrugėlė“ to the visitors of the exhibition also offers a sausage, the production technology of which is very similar
to rounded sausage, only some more peppers are added and the meat mass is stuffed not into a bladder but into
synthetic casings.
To satisfy the taste of foodies smoked bacon seasoned with salt and a pinch of laurel leaves will perfectly do. Pork fat
is sprinkled with laurel leaves only before the smoking process. Having savoury appearance and really delicious are
cold smoked hunter sausages, produced of pork mixed with beef. The meat is stuffed into sheep’s tripe, therefore the
sausages are very thin only of span length and convenient to take into picnics or trips.
Visitors of the exhibition will also be able to try Lithuanian sausage made of pork and stuffed into pork’s tripe, which is
then twisted to make separate pieces of sausage as was used from ancient times in Lithuania.
The head of the company Mr. Virgaudas Kanauka says he believes that the first “appearance“ in the exhibition will be
successful and will help to make serious business contacts for the future.
Lithuanian Folk Art Works
Delight the Visitors of the Exhibition for the Fifth Time
Initiative, talented, nurturing the old customs and trades women living in the Lithuanian villages united by trade centre
“Verpstė“, established by Lithuanian Farmers‘ Society have been participating in the international food industry,
agriculture and horticulture exhibition “Green Week” for the fifth time.
The women of the trade centre “Verpstė” established by Lithuanian Farmers‘ Society in 2001 actively participate in
exhibitions and fairs not only in Lithuania, but also abroad. The original Lithuanian women folk art works always attract
exhibition visitors‘ attention. Therefore this year, no exception, enthusiastic Lithuanian women farmers in the exhibition
“Green Week 2009” present their works of pottery (bells out of white and natural pottery, wooden plates with angels
and flowers of pottery, various souvenirs with Lithuanian symbolics out of pottery), of wood (wooden utensils, wooden
combinations with floristics, manual work spindles and horseshoes, wooden toys), a wide selection of jewellery from
amber, brass, glass, deer antlers; works for adults and children decorated in national motifs and filled with ecological
buckwheat.
Lithuanian Farmers‘ Society established in 1991 is a self-supporting public organization seeking to improve living and
working conditions of women in villages, to unite them in common activities, which aim to improve village life, provide
knowledge and self-reliance. The society has always paid a lot of attention to the development of alternative sources of
income for village women and promotion of their entrepreneurship, cultivation of commonness, nurturance of cultural
and national heritage, and beautification of environment.
The society not only organizes seminars and teaching programmes for village women, but also consults on the
questions of the development of communities, collaborate with German, Norwegian, Polish, British non -governmental
organizations and execute common project with them. It is also the member of Chamber of Agriculture of the Republic
of Lithuania and International Country Woman‘s Association.