The new different season is knocking at the door. Thousands of tourists are eager to try new local specialties and many of them want to bring them home. One of the big challenges when I travel is to find authentic souvenirs from the region that will please everyone. Even in my hometown is hard to find true local products which will be a nice memory to take home. Therefore I’ve made my own list of the best food gifts to pick from:
- Small bag with candied almonds or sugar orange peels ( arancini)- easy to find it in souvenir shops already wrapped as a gift or at the farmer’s market on Gundulic square in the Old city.
- Bottle of local olive oil- always a nice gift especially for those who are trying to eat and live healthy as olive oil is an inevitable ingredient in many delicious Mediterranean dishes.
- Local wine or craft beer – Croatia is a true wine country but it’s not easy to find our wines abroad due to low export. Now is a good chance to get a couple of bottles of our local varieties: Plavac Mali and Dingač from Peninsula of Pelješac, Merlot or Malvasija from Konavle valley, Pošip or Grk from the island of Korčula.
For the beer lovers we recommend to visit shop Pomalo in the Old city and buy some of the Dubrovnik craft beers. In Dubrovnik Beer Company in the Gruž harbour you can try them on the spot and get some info about the production process.
- Bitter orange jam – bitter orange is a symbol fruit of Dubrovnik and one of the major products is bitter orange jam that goes perfectly with pancakes, not to bitter and not to sweet…
- Cookbooks with local specialties- they are treasury of the local recipes that you can try home to evoke your memories: Taste of Dubrovnik, Dubrovnik table, What’s cooking in Dubrovnik, Pantarul at home.
- Rakija ( grape brandy) – herbal „Travarica“ or just pure one „Loza“, for those brave ones as they are our version of vodka. The percentage of alcohol is 40-45%. If those ones are too strong for you there are sweet versions – liqueurs made of carob, cherries, walnuts, roses, japanese plum, quince, bitter orange, pomegranate….
We like to consider these spirits as medicine, as they cure any disease (or at least you forget about pain after having few glasses :) ).
- Jar of pickled rock samphire (in Croatian-Motar) – so simple herb but flavourful especially matched with the young cow cheese, salted or marinated fish. This souvenir you can get even for free if you are visiting us in June and pick it by yourself. It is growing on the rocks near the sea and you can find it hidden in the city walls as well.
- Cheese in olive oil – combination from heaven for your taste buds. Aged cheese kept in a jar covered with olive oil can be preserved like that for 6 months. It is ideal snack with a glass of wine.
- Dalmatian prosciutto – cured pork ham with the bone salted with sea salt, smoked and matured not less than 2 years. Just the smell makes you desperate to taste it. It goes best with homemade bread baked on the open fireplace.
- Last but not the least – apron Dubrovnik Food Story that you can have after finishing one of our traditional Dubrovnik cooking classes.
28 lipnja, 2020
