TOP Bled Food Specialties (Bled Local Selection)

Following a recent dinner at Restaurant 1906 in Bled, I decided to look into some special foods that I had there that are symbolic and typical of Bled and the surrounding areas. Have you ever heard of, or tried, Bled posmodulja (a type of bread)? Or the special type of pear that is traditional in Slovenia: tepka (yellow pear)? The first time I came across this pear was while eating a heavenly dessert of tepka pear ice cream at the same restaurant, Restaurant 1906, last year.

During my quest to learn more about posmodulja and tepka, I came across the recently launched Bled Local Selection project—a collection of 59 products that best represent the tradition and culture of Bled. Think genuine eats and homely dishes. There are some arts and crafts items too, some of which are quite intriguing. I’m about to share the best of Bled’s culinary delights with you now. Prepare to get hungry!

Bled Local Selection Foods & Dishes

Till this point, I’d only known of Bled Cream Cake as the main symbol of the area’s traditional food. But there’s more to Bled cuisine than this custard-cream cake. Below are the foods and dishes that fall under the Bled Local Selection label that you should definitely try when in Bled.

Posmodulja with Bohinj Minced Lard

This one comes with a little story 🙂

Posmodulja (posmodula) is an old Slovenian dish that was prepared by housekeepers while waiting for their bread to be baked. These houswives were usually in the company of their children who were eagerly awaiting the freshly baked bread. Since children tend to be rather impatient during their wait for food, the housekeepers found the perfect way to keep them quiet and satisfied. They would roll out a thin piece of dough and coat it with sour cream, herbs, and minced lard or some other spread, and pop it into the oven for a quick bake!

The name ‘posmodula’ or even ‘posmojevka’ originates in the Kranj area. On festive occasions, members of the Bled Tourist Association bake it in a specially constructed brick furnace, and serve it with Bohinj minced lard or with cheese and garlic.

During the Pelicon 1906 Food & Wine Pairing held at Restaurant 1906 of Hotel Triglav Bled, we had ‘posmodula’ with venison paté.

Where to get ‘posmodula’ with Bohinj minced lard: During the annual event Bled Days, which is organised by Bled Tourist Board.

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1906 Soup: Dried Porcini Soup

I had the opporunity to eat this excellent mushroom soup just last weekend at Dinner in Style 1906, an event that will be the subject of my next post.

1906 Soup, together with the next dish of Nežka’s Roast Beef, is prepared according to the recipe of Nežka Zrimec—great-grandmother of the owner of the Triglav Bled Hotel, Zdravko Rus—and upgraded according to modern cuisine practises by Triglav Bled Hotel chefs.

The soup name, 1906, refers to the year in which the Triglav Hotel first opened its doors to the public. It’s made from dried porcini mushrooms, royal chanterelles, bacon from the Mlinarič butcher’s shop in the nearby town of Lesce, and buckwheat gruel.

Where to get 1906 Soup: Restavracija 1906 Bled, Kolodvorska cesta 33, Bled.

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Nežka’s Roast Beef

This delicious roast beef dish is a concoction of Bled tradition and modern gastronomy. I can vouch for its divine mix of flavours and textures. There’s the beef itself, which for startes is already very tasty as well as tender. Then you have fried pieces of Carniolan sausage or Kranjska klobasa (also from Mlinarič), which, together with the beef,  lies in a delectible bone marrow sauce, surrounded by a rich parsley root cream.

The savoury flavour from all these combine really nicely with the added blueberries and cottage cheese rolls (štruklji) filled with dry tepke pears from the Matijovc farmstead in Podbrezje village. If I haven’t tempted you enough with my words, then you’ve just got to try out this famous dish for yourself.

Where to get Nežka’s Roast Beef: Restavracija 1906 Bled, Kolodvorska cesta 33, Bled.

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Pr Taufo Homemade Egg Pasta

The Pr Taufo Homestead produces a whole range of pasta, from noodles and macaroni to spelt fusilli and tagliatelle. Their pasta is made using one recipe containing home-produced eggs and Slovenian flour.

Where to get Pr Taufo Homemade Egg Pasta: Pr Taufo Homestead, Poljšica pri Gorjah 44 B, 4247 Zgornje Gorje.

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Bled Honey

Bled honey is produced in a traditional and nature-friendly way by beekeepers from Bled and Gorje, thanks to the hard work of the native Carniolian honey bees. The people of Carniola have always been recognised as skilled beekeepers who spread their knowledge of apiculture all over the world.

Produced by: Bled-Gorje Beekeepers Association. Sold at: Infocenter Triglavska roža Bled, Ljubljanska cesta 27, Bled.

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Gorenjska Region Selection Menu – Grand Hotel Toplice

As the name implies, this menu includes food that is typical of Slovenia’s northwestern Gorenjska region, with ingredients sourced from Bled farms and surrounding homesteads.

Comprising: a cold starter of beans humus with tepke pears and walnuts; smoked trout and home-made yoghurt glaze with horseradish; warm starter of capon clear soup with tubers and quail egg; main course of capon breast and deer medallion wrapped in home-grown herbs; potato roll with tarragon and cottage cheese; carrot and home-grown anise cream; mohant cheese foam; and dessert is a character gin cream cake with a hazelnut core, dry pears ice cream, currant wine gel, mint powder, and millet porridge with dry prunes.

Where to enjoy the Gorenjska Region Selection Menu: Restavracija Julijana, Grand Hotel Toplice, Cesta svobode 12, 4260 Bled

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Mateja Reš’ Herbal Salt & Tea (Garden of Tastes)

These products are made by Mateja Reš, a herbalist, cook, beekeeper, writer and farmer, at her home farm called Garden of Tastes in Zgornje Gorje near Bled. She’s an expert at merging herbs and flowers to come up with products that exude invigorating scents.

Mateja’s ‘Pinch of Joy‘ is salt mixed with dried herbs from her garden, of which wild marjoram adds a most special touch. You can use this in your cooking. While her ‘Garden Flower‘ tea is a mix of hand-picked and dried herbs, fragrant rose blossoms, and bush leaves that flourish in her garden. She also does a lovely herbal ice tea from a natural blend of organically grown herbs.

Sold at:

• Infocenter Triglavska roža Bled, Ljubljanska cesta 27, Bled
• KGC Store – Agricultural and Forestry Cooperative Store, Gozd Bled, Za Žago 1a, Bled

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Pr’ Jernejc Apple Juice & Dried Apple Slices

Apples have been used and consumed in Slovenia since ancient times, and Bled’s orchards are full of them. The Pr’ Jernejc fruit-growing farm offers dried apple slices, apple juice, and apples of various varieties.

Sold at: KGC Store – Agricultural and Forestry Cooperative Store, Gozd Bled, Za Žago 1a, Bled.

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Bled Cheese

Eating Bled cheese (or any of Slovenia’s specialty cheeses) is like tasting fresh meadows! Bled cheese is made from quality cow’s milk produced by 22 family farmsteads from Bled and the surrounding areas that are affiliated to the Bled cooperative. It is served after being matured for at least two months. 

Sold at:

• KGC Store – Agricultural and Forestry Cooperative Store, Gozd Bled, Za Žago 1a, Bled
• TIC Bled, Cesta svobode 10, Bled
• Hofer, Hraška cesta 23, 4248 Lesce

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Pear-Pomace Rolls by Gostilna Kurej

Legend has it that empress Maria Theresa of Austria (who ruled the Austro-Hungarian Empire and thus also Slovenia) prevented famine in the Bled region by ordering farmers to plant pear trees. The consequence for those who disobeyed was getting beaten up. That’s how the pear’s name came about, as ‘tepen‘ in Slovenian means ‘beaten’.

Tepke pears were used by housewives from Zasip village nearby Bled for centuries, and the flour made of these pears is called pomace. Nowadays, you can enjoy Kurej inn‘s exquisite rolls filled with minced cooked tepke pears, home-made cottage cheese, herbs, and spices.

Sold at: Gostilna Kurej, Blejska cesta 6, Zasip.

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Bled Island Potica with Dried Tepke Pears or Hazelnuts & Figs

In Slovenia, potica is the traditional holiday cake, so you won’t go through Easter and Christmas without a good dose of it. On Bled Island, it is baked every day. The Bled Island Cake Bakery makes two special potica versions: one with dried tepke pears (pictured above), and another with hazelnuts and figs (pictured below). All these ingredients can be found on Bled Island, so next time you’re here, look out for the fig tree to the left of the stairs as you walk up to the church. It’s hard to miss.

Sold at: Potičnica, Bled Island.

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Tr’glav – Tepkovec Brandy

The name Tr’glav (literally meaning ‘headripper’) derives from oral tradition of the distillery’s descendants. According to legend, a distant ancestor allegedly ripped someone’s head off at a village party.

Tr’glav’s distilling tradition has been passed on from generation to generation and today produces over 30 different types of fruit and herbal liqueurs and brandies.

The following nine varieties fall under the Bled Local Selection certification: original Tepkovec brandy distilled from the best tepke pears from Muže, and Tepkovec with blueberry, mountain centuary, mountain wild thyme, home-grown apricot, highland heath shoots, Alpine herbs, Alpine sour cherry, or yellow gentian root.

Sold at:

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Bled Cream Cake (Kremšnita)

The Idea Behind Bled Local Selection

The Bled Local Selection project was founded by the locals and fans of Bled. All products within the selection reflect the experience and knowledge of past generations and are chosen by an expert committee, which ensures top quality and authenticity.

Apart from the food and gastronomic offers of the selection are the arts and crafts products. These inlcude the well-known pletna boat which takes visitors to Lake Bled Island, and the lesser known but highly interesting Zakistar flip flops. These flip flops were inspired by Arnold Rikli, the Swiss natural healer who made Bled famous. The soles are made of small river pebbles from the Sava River that massage your feet as you walk in them. Rather cool I must say! Though I’ve yet to try them on.

World of Flavours

My final note to you is this: Next time you visit Lake Bled, yes please do dig in to that Bled Cream Cake. But don’t stick with just that. Adventure into a larger world of flavours enriched by soul-satisfying soups of dried porcini and chanterelles, tender roast beef with crispy bits of smokey Carniolan sausage, the candied sweetness of the land’s native pears, the taste of Slovenia’s green meadows in the cheese…

Bled is all this and more. Come taste it! Then let me know your thoughts.

Bye for now 🙂 and see you in Bled!

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Cover photo: Tomo Jeseničnik; source: www.slovenia.info

Source for some of the info required for this article: Bled Tourist Board

More about Bled Local Selection products here.

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