
Šporki makaruli
Thick tubular pasta, the makaruli, served with the sauce of a beef stew made with wine and spices. It’s the dish of the Feast of St. Blaise, patron saint of Dubrovnik.
Flavors · Dubrovnik
Egg custard made from eggs, milk and sugar baked in a water bath over a layer of caramel and scented with rozalin, Dubrovnik rose liqueur. It is the city’s most traditional dessert.
Traditional sweet from Dubrovnik, Dubrovnik-Neretva
Also known as: Rozata, Rožata, Dubrovačka rožata
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Dubrovačka rozata — Dubrovnik, Croatia
Rozata is an egg, milk and sugar custard, baked in a water bath in caramel-lined molds and then unmolded. Similar sweets exist across the Mediterranean; what sets Dubrovnik’s version apart is the rose scent.
According to Jadranka Ničetić, author of a comprehensive book on the city’s traditional cuisine, it is the rose liqueur that defines rozata and gives it its name. That liqueur, rozalin, used to be homemade, like other fruit and flower liqueurs from the region.
Rozata appears among the traditional Dubrovnik sweets taught in workshops during the city’s food festival, alongside other old recipes. Ničetić says the dessert was served on shallow, slightly concave plates so the caramel that runs off when unmolding wouldn’t be lost.
Today there are versions flavored with other aromas, such as vanilla or lemon peel, but the traditional recipe keeps the rose liqueur.
Dubrovnik , Dubrovnik-Neretva
Traditional Dubrovnik dessert scented with the city’s rose liqueur.
Eggs, milk, sugar, rozalin (rose liqueur) and sugar caramel; some recipes include lemon peel.
Served cold, unmolded, with the caramel on top, on shallow plates that hold the sauce.
A family lunch and celebration dessert in Dubrovnik.
Your questions
An egg, milk and sugar custard with caramel, scented with rose liqueur, served cold and unmolded.
The name comes from the rose liqueur that perfumes the custard and distinguishes Dubrovnik’s version from other Mediterranean custards.
The base is similar—eggs, milk, sugar and caramel; traditional rozata includes rose liqueur.
Flavors of Croatia

Thick tubular pasta, the makaruli, served with the sauce of a beef stew made with wine and spices. It’s the dish of the Feast of St. Blaise, patron saint of Dubrovnik.

Stew of white fish with potato, onion, garlic, parsley, olive oil and white wine, without tomato, cooked in a wide pan. It is the island of Hvar’s fish specialty.

Red wine, usually teran, warmed with olive oil, sugar and pepper and served with toasted bread in a ceramic pitcher, the bukaleta, passed from hand to hand. It is a social ritual of Istria and a cultural heritage protected by Croatia.

Round fermented dough cake with almonds, walnuts, raisins, citrus fruits and spices, brushed with varenik or brandy and dusted with sugar. It is a sweet from the island of Korčula with a European Union geographical indication.

Dough rolled very thin, filled with fresh cheese, eggs and cream, rolled up and cut into pieces that are cooked or baked. It is the dish of Hrvatsko zagorje, with EU geographical indication and protection as an intangible cultural heritage.

Homemade dough rolled into thin tubes by hand around a needle, served with žgvacet, a lamb or beef meat sauce, and sheep cheese. It is the pasta that symbolizes the cuisine of the island of Krk.

Layered cake made with thin stretched dough and four fillings: walnuts, poppy seeds, fresh cheese, and grated apple. It is the best-known sweet from Međimurje, in the far north of Croatia.

Spicy stew of river fish, such as carp and catfish, with onion and lots of paprika, cooked in a cauldron over a wood fire. It is the fish dish of Osijek and of Slavonia and Baranja.

Puff pastry dessert filled with a thick layer of egg custard and whipped egg whites, cut into squares. The recipe was created in Samobor in the 1920s, and the dessert is a recognized intangible cultural heritage of Croatia.

Veal and onion risotto cooked for many hours in a strong broth, stirred constantly with a large wooden paddle, traditionally by the men of Skradin. It is prepared in large quantities for celebrations.

Beef larded with garlic, clove and bacon, marinated in wine and vinegar and cooked for hours in a dark sauce with dried plum and prošek. In Split, it’s served with gnocchi or pasta.

Thin unleavened pastry pie filled with Swiss chard and onion, baked on the hot stone of the hearth covered with embers and finished with olive oil and garlic. It is a dish from the Poljica region, between Split and Omiš, with EU geographical indication.

Honey biscuit with olive oil, prošek and spices from Stari Grad on the island of Hvar, shaped into figures and decorated with sugar. It is mentioned in a 1556 poem and the art of making it is a protected cultural practice.

Thin pastry tart filled with cooked pasta, walnuts, almonds, sugar, chocolate and spices. It is the sweet of Ston, on the Pelješac peninsula, and is traditionally made at Christmas and Easter.

A colorless liqueur distilled from the marasca cherry, with a sweet, almond-like flavor. Tradition links it to the Dominican monastery of Zadar in the 16th century, and the city made a living from its production and export for more than two centuries.