Author: Elena Șerbănescu
When we founded our association we started with this idea that Transylvania, no matter how well-known it is internationally, still has a lot of potential that has not been valued yet. We have validated this assumption countless times when it comes to the development of Transylvanian communities, and the same thing happened to the situation of small local producers.
Transylvania is one of the last places in Europe with high quality biodiversity. Natural landscapes, crops, tasty food (both literally and figuratively) … you can find them all here. And yet, I have noticed that, although Transylvania is full of goodies, access to them is not always easy. There are several causes: for agriculture adapted to the laws of nature farmers work very manually and do not have much time for marketing. As we dedicate all the projects at the NGO for community development, we said that we can help our neighboring farmers by talking about them to you, lovers of Transylvania, those of you who want authentic gastronomic experiences in rural Transylvania, but do not know how to find them in the villages lost among the Hills of Transylvania.
So, dear tourists, we help you discover where you can find local food in the Transylvanian Highlands. Below, we talk with small producers specialized in all kinds of goodies, working their lands near Sighisoara.
Grădinile Mălâncrav, distance to Sighișoara: 20 km, fresh and canned vegetables
Image: Grădinile Mălâncrav
1. My name is Andrei Calugar and I grow vegetables in the village of Malancrav, Laslea. My business is called Malancrav Gardens.
2. What kind of goodies do you produce on your farm?
In the spring we usually grow lettuce, spinach, green onions, radishes, mangold, basil, carrots. During summer-autumn we grow cabbage, onions, bell peppers, kapia (red) peppers, hot peppers, eggplants, several varieties of tomatoes, pumpkins, potatoes.
From vegetables I made several kinds of preserves and cans: tomato and yellow juice, onion jam, hot pepper jam, pickled hot peppers, ripe eggplant, baked peppers, rhubarb jam, pumpkin chutney, zacusca (a mix of roasted eggplants, tomatoes, peppers), pickles and others.
3. Is there anything special in the way you produce?
Our differentiator is that we grow vegetables in the field, in rhythm with nature. We do not use chemicals, pesticides and we work in harmony with the biodiversity of the area. Vegetables grow at their own pace, under the open sky and thus accumulate, from the soil, all the nutrients that give them the taste of natural, organic vegetables.
As for recipes, some recipes are old, from the family, and others are more modern or offer a more special experience than the products found in every household.
Image: Grădinile Mălâncrav
4. What is the story behind the business? What motivated you to start, how many years have you been working in the field, how did you choose the village?
Malancrav is the village where I spent all my childhood holidays. It’s my grandparents’ village. I learned the love of working with the land from my grandmother, whom I always helped in the garden. 2021 is my fourth year of managing the garden on my own.
5. How does a normal work day go for you?
It is difficult to explain a specific day, I think I’d better make a summary for a season. Working in the garden is very different depending on the time of the year. As I told you earlier, our motto is to be in rhythm with nature, so our work is carried out according to it.
In March-April, radish, lettuce, carrots, onions and spinach are planted in the garden, when the soil is dry enough to be sown. We plant the seeds for seedlings in mid-March, in a small heated solarium in the village. The seedlings are then planted in the garden, in mid-May. Then we make sure that the small seedlings have everything they need to grow beautifully. We water them, we take care of them.
The most beautiful part is when we start harvesting the produce, we make tomato juice, we bake the eggplants… it is an entire festival of harvesting in the garden.
So a day’s work can be weeding or harvesting, planting seedlings or baking eggplant. The truth is that we never get bored, and the time spent outdoors is invaluable.
Image: Grădinile Mălâncrav
6. What is your biggest professional dream?
My dream is to develop the garden and implement as many sustainable techniques as possible. In the future I would like to do “no dig” agriculture, meaning not to work the land so much but just to help it with organic fertilizers, compost. A more distant dream is to build a buried solarium, where I can produce fresh vegetables in the cold season. A shorter term dream is to certify ourselves as an eco producer.
7. Why it is worthwhile for tourists to visit you when they come to Transylvania?
I think it’s a very special feeling when you can taste a food right where it was raised. Last year we organized a picnic in the garden, and the tourists who participated still write us messages of appreciation. We want to meet new people, let them taste the fruits of the garden and make them understand that everything goes much more beautiful and harmonious when you work with nature, not against it. Likewise, I believe that a visit to the garden helps people understand the importance of short food chains for their health and well-being, but also for the planet.
8. Where can we buy your products?
In Sighisoara, the villages in the area and Targu Mures deliver at home through the project www.bucatedinvecinatate.ro. We also collaborate with grocers from Sibiu (Trufanda, Sibiu Food Hub), Cluj (Village in the city) and Brasov (Ninna flour meal). Also in Sighisoara we have products at Winebox.
We welcome visitors to the farm, we really enjoy it. 🙂 Starting with the spring of 2021 we will organize meals and picnics for tourists, where we will make tastings of our products but also of the products of other farmers in the area.
Anyone interested in visiting us can write us a message on Facebook.
Contact persons Andrei Calugar 0743.505.100 or Theodora Tanczos 0743.806.748.
Pivnița Bunicii- distance to Sighișoara: 20 km, fresh and canned vegetables, fruits, beverages
Image: Pivnița Bunicii
- Jim Turnbull, CEO, Transylvania Food Company Srl, Saschiz
- What kind of goodies do you produce on your farm?
We buy ingredients from the community (flowers, fruit and vegetables) and we employ members of the community to process these into a range of products (sweet and savoury preserves, cordial and gin. We also buy and bottle honey
- Is there anything special about the way you produce?
We use traditional recipes and methods of production in small batches to make products that have the taste and aroma to remind you of childhood – just as your grandmother used to make. Our products are natural, we do not use any additives or preservatives
We are a licenced micro distillery – and one of the first in Romania to make gin. We produce in small batches using traditional equipment and are sustaining rural traditions by training young people, adding some science to make a consistent and safe product.
We are certified to a global food safety standard, the first micro enterprise in Romania to achieve this
We are a certified social enterprise – long before the concept was widely known in Romania and now employing 14 people
We are certified carbon neutral – a concept not yet common in Romania, but important for the global environment
- What’s the story behind the deal? What motivated you to start, how many years you worked in the field, how did you choose the village?
I am an eccentric Scot with almost 30 years of experience in international rural development, came to Romania in 2002, invited to visit the wildflower meadows in Transylvania, was give some water from a spring in Saschiz (not knowing that there was a legend that after drinking this water you will never leave). Started the social enterprise in 2010. Why Saschiz – the mayor understood what we were trying to achieve.
Image: Pivnița Bunicii
- How does a normal day’s work for you?
We are busy throughout the year except in May and June when we are extremely busy with the elderflower harvest.
The team in the production facility are busy making products, and preparing orders for dispatch to customers, in the office we have IT systems in place to control production and stock, raise invoices and manage the cashflow. The distillery operation starts with fermentation before double distilling, adding the botanicals and then a third distillation and bottling – keeping us busy most of the year.
Visitors to our shop are fairly constant throughout the year
- What is your biggest professional dream?
To prove that helping people out of poverty is sustainable and best achieved by providing work and access to markets for the produce and not by short term projects or handouts
By providing the opportunity to work, young people might be encouraged to stay in the village rather than seek work in Western Europe
By staying in the village, young people will help keep the village alive.
Saschiz has developed a reputation for entrepreneurial activity and this has further attracted new business and employment opportunities
However, the reality is that the area still has a huge shortage of labour, also trades such as plumbing and electrician and management trainees
- Why it is worthwhile getting to visit in Transylvania?
Authentic products, consistent quality and produced to a high standard of food safety
- Where can we buy your products?
We have our own shop in Saschiz and our product are in numerous outlets throughout Romaniia
In normal years we offer a taste experience (jams, chutney, cordial) but booking in advance is essential. We hope soon to be able to offer an opprtunity to taste our gin
We have our on-line shop, see www.pivnitabunicii.com
Our address: Str. Principală Nr.354 Saschiz, jud. Mureș 547510
Mobiles: 0736 637 121 / 122 / 123
Ferma Țopa, Albești, distance to Sighișoara: 10 km, cheese, fresh and canned vegetables, fruits, syrups
Image: Ferma Țopa
1. We are the Cismas, Dan and Tincuta, family and we manage our ecological farm, together with Dragos, Maria and Ana. We live in the village of Topa, Albesti, Mures county, 10 km from the city of Sighisoara. Since 2009 we have dedicated our lives to this dream of having a farm, and not an ordinary one but an ecologically certified one.
2. What kind of goodies do you produce on your farm?
It is a mixed farm, we have dairy, cows, pigs, chickens, dogs, cats, we cultivate the land and produce vegetables, fruits, cereals, medicinal plants, we have a cheese processing workshop but also jams, syrups, pickles, zacusca that we sell under the brand “goodies from Tincuta”
3. How does a normal working day look for you?
We work in a team, sometimes bigger, sometimes smaller, depending on the season.
Every day is different from the other, we try to complement each other. Dragos (27 years old) for example is responsible with the animals but also for mechanization and everything related to the work of the land. Tincuta is the one who makes all the connections between family members and outsiders, clients, partners of different projects, workers, she is the one who usually sells at the mobile caravan with which we move in Sighisoara, Albesti but also in other localities.
Maria is a student in Cluj, at “business management”, and participates as much as possible in farm work, packaging, preparation of products for delivery, various computer work and much more. Ana is a student in the 6th grade and like her sister she always gives a helping hand when needed.
I’m Dan and I want to believe that I’m useful at the farm, we think together the way forward, but there are many activities that need my attention, milk processing, but also traveling by car, we make flour for example in different places, participation and organizing cooperation activities and partnerships. I like to be active in terms of social life in our community.
Image: Ferma Țopa
4. What is the biggest professional dream?
The motto of the farm and the ideal we propose is to become better every day by keeping the balance between Desire and Love, our 2 dimensions.
We strongly believe in our local potential, we enjoy new things and people every day, we are confident in the future and we look forward to tomorrow because we see that what we do is in search and we can live.
5. Where can we buy your products?
We sell directly from the farm but we have also made a project to develop a short food chain and we have a mobile caravan and a refrigerated machine with which we deliver the products directly to customers in Sibiu, Mures, Brasov, and other nearby cities.
You can also order the Topa ecological farm on the fb page, we want to make an online sale site but it is not ready yet.
We also have a phone number 0740256990 – Tincuta, where you can call and we can send packages directly to your place.
La miere cu plăcere - Nou Săsesc, distance to Sighișoara: 20 km, honey products
Image: La miere cu plăcere
1. My name is Daniel Cif Klusch, I live in the village of Nou-Sasesc, and my business is in the beekeeping field.
2. What kind of goodies do you produce on your farm?
As products, mainly honey, with the specific assortments of the area: acacia honey, the most known and desired, then linden honey, polyflora, rapeseed and sunflower. There is also pollen, little known to the population and propolis tincture; this being a very strong natural antibiotic. There are other products that can be obtained from bees, but I only deal with these at the moment.
3. Is there anything special in the way you produce?
I can’t boast that I have organic or other certifications, but I use the same products that I sell, so throughout the production process I follow the rules specific to beekeeping so that in the end I have a product that I can be satisfied with.
4. What is the story behind the business? What motivated you to start, how many years have you been working in the field, how did you choose the village?
I have been active in the beekeeping field for 17 years, but as a main activity for 8 years. I also fell in love with this profession and the fact that it is very amazing to follow the evolution of a family of bees throughout a year, from organization, breeding, collection of resources, defense: a very simple system organized, but I think impossible to decipher. I grew up in the village, so I never wanted the city, plus this business is not suitable for the city.
5. How does a normal work day go for you?
Let me explain a day after the honey extraction, this being a really sweet moment: the clock strikes 1 in the morning, in half an hour we are already on our way to Buzau county, (360 km drive) where we have to harvest honey of acacia. Some rain is announced, but we have prepared a tractor there to tow us if we are unable to enter (and this is what happens, not a mere possibility). At 9 o’clock everything is ready and we begin; we still have some light rainfall around 11 o’clock, but we have to continue. We have a lunch break at about 3 pm, because we are already tired of so much sweetness, then we continue until 7 pm; we are quite exhausted, but it is a great joy on everyone’s face because we succeeded, although the weather conditions told us something completely different in the morning.
Image: La miere cu plăcere
6. What is your biggest professional dream?
Of course I have a vision for the future, for the way I will work, the equipment I need, but with small and safe steps we will continue. Once I have reached what I set out to do, I prepare the ground for the next step and this is somewhat in line with what I can achieve. I take small, achievable steps, which then give me the satisfaction of being able to continue.
7. Why it is worthwhile for tourists to visit you when they come to Transylvania?
It is clear that honey is stored for a long time; so if they want to take a jar of honey, it can be kept very well as a souvenir. Then the fact that honey is produced in fairly isolated areas and definitely unpolluted. The bee, if it reaches a polluted area, it avoids it, and if it still happens to be accidentally infested, it does not return to the hive, in fact, the honey can not be compromised. Honey is a very authentic product.
8. Where can we buy your products?
I usually distribute the products, at certain periods, to well-known customers; then direct sale from home, and in the harvest season there are customers who come directly there to see the process. I also have a Facebook page / lamierecuplacere, but dealing with promotion comes in second place. Tel 0745 099 099 0269 70 89 89 la_miere_cu_placere@yahoo.com
Trufe de Archita, distance to Sighișoara: 26 km, truffles
Image: Trufe de Archita
1. My name is Silian Gheorghe and I own a plantation of truffle trees in the village of Archita
2. What kind of goodies do you produce on your farm?
Fresh truffles, dehydrated in olive oil, frozen.
3. Is there anything special in the way you produce?
It is a certified production of MOUNTAIN PRODUCT.
4. What is the story behind the business? What motivated you to start, how many years have you been working in the field, how did you choose the village?
I worked in Italy for 14 years where I learned about the benefits of truffles. When I decided to return to Romania I set up a plantation of truffle trees in the village of Archita. Believing in my business, I took care of it and after 4 years the first results appeared. I chose the village with my family, visiting my sister.
5. How does a normal work day look for you?
During the harvest period, I check once a week with the dogs the rest of the plantation, I do the maintenance of the irrigated plantation, etc.
6. What is your biggest professional dream?
To be able to produce a quantity that will ensure a profit for my family.
7. Why it is worthwhile for tourists to visit you when they come to Transylvania?
Right next to the plantation I have a house that will enter the Via Transilvanica circuit on May 1st. I am a member of the Tansylvanian Highlands. I also have an ARCHITA HUNT company through which I organize day trips with a picnic in nature to a truffle hunt in the nearby forests.
8. Where can we buy your products?
You can buy the products on the site bucatedinvecinatate.ro or directly from the source, phone number 0762532006
Gabriel Lapadat, Vânători, distance to Sighișoara: 10 km, honey products
Image: Unsplash
1. Lapadat Gabriel Ionut, Apiculutura, sat Soard, no. 37, com. Vanatori, Mures county
2. What kind of goodies do you produce on your farm?
Bee honey and hive products: pollen, propolis, propolis tincture;
3. Is there anything special in the way you produce?
I try to produce a quality honey by using traditional extraction procedures, maturing the honey in the hive as long as possible for a perfect taste, I use as few treatments applied in the apiary for the protection of bees.
4. What is the story behind the business? What motivated you to start, how many years have you been working in the field, how did you choose the village?
It is a tradition in the family, I am the 3rd generation of beekeepers.
5. How does a normal work day look for you?
First of all, the weather conditions should be favorable, the sun and the heat, depending on the time of year, I take care of the needs of the hive, one by one each hive.
6. What is your biggest professional dream?
To maintain beekeeping as a family activity, to pass on the knowledge related to it, to contribute to the conservation of the environment through activities that are as non-invasive as possible.
7. Why it is worthwhile for tourists to visit you when they come to Transylvania?
I consider that I can show tourisst the world of these creatures, of bees, their way of life and how to obtain honey or other products from the hive in safe conditions, I can show them the flow of obtaining honey and a tasting of it directly from the apiary.
8. Where can we buy your products?
At the moment I no longer own products, it has been a very precarious year in obtaining honey, but once I own honey, it is available in the group of bucatedinvecinatate.ro, I also deliver at home in Sighisoara and surroundings;
You can find me at 0746777316 and directly in the village: Sat Soard, no. 37, Vanatori Commune, Mures County.
Cover image: Grădinile Mălâncrav
Elena Șerbănescu
Founding member of House of Nature Association. In love with Transylvanian Highlands and the village of her childhood, Laslea, where she volunteers. Always concerned with creating and adapting the work of the association to the needs of the community.
