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Papua New GuineaFlavors · Hungary
Christmas bonbon, usually a fondant candy covered in chocolate, wrapped in shiny colored foil and hung on the branches of the Christmas tree. The most common fillings are fruit jelly, marzipan, coconut and caramel.
Traditional sweet from Hungary
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Szaloncukor — Hungary
Szaloncukor is the Hungarian Christmas sweet. They are small bonbons, usually fondant covered in chocolate, wrapped in colored metallic foil and hung on the branches of the Christmas tree. During the holidays, the family takes the sweets off the tree and eats them, until only the ornaments remain.
The custom arrived in Hungary in the 19th century. According to the official record, the sweet came from abroad but changed so much in the country that it came to be considered Hungarian. The name means “salon candy.”
The best-selling fillings are fruit jelly, marzipan, coconut and caramel, and every year new flavors appear. The quality rules for szaloncukor are in the Hungarian Food Code, and the confectioners’ association organizes an annual contest for the best szaloncukor.
The sweet was registered in 2024 in the Hungarikum Collection. In the weeks before Christmas, it appears in boxes and packages in shops and confectioneries across the country.
Hungary
A Christmas sweet common throughout the country, without a documented place of origin.
Sugar fondant, fillings of fruit jelly, marzipan, coconut, caramel or nuts, chocolate coating and metallic foil wrapping.
Hung on the Christmas tree and taken off gradually during the holidays, unwrapped at the moment of eating.
Christmas: decorates the tree during the holidays.
Your questions
A Hungarian Christmas bonbon, usually fondant covered in chocolate and wrapped in colored foil, hung on the branches of the Christmas tree.
The most common are fruit jelly, marzipan, coconut and caramel, but new flavors appear every year.
The custom arrived in the country in the 19th century. The sweet came from abroad but gained its own form in Hungary and today is considered a Hungarian sweet.
Flavors of Hungary
Wine mixed with sparkling water (szóda), in proportions that have their own names, such as kisfröccs, hosszúlépés and házmester. White, rosé or red, it is the summer drink of Hungary’s bars, cellars and terraces.
Beef soup with plenty of broth, onion, paprika, diced potato and csipetke, a pinched noodle that cooks in the pot. It is made without thickening with flour. The name comes from the gulyás, the herdsmen of the Great Plain.
Sweet yeast dough rolled into a strip on a wooden spindle, baked while turned over embers and coated with caramelized sugar. It comes off the spindle in the shape of a hollow cylinder. It originated in the Land of the Székely in Transylvania and is sold at fairs and Christmas markets throughout Hungary.
Yeast dough hand-opened and fried until golden, crunchy on the outside and soft inside. The classic topping is sour cream, grated cheese and, if you like, garlic. A street food found at fairs, markets and beaches across the country.
Fruit brandy distilled in Hungary from plum, apricot, pear, apple, cherry and many others. By law the fruit must be grown in Hungary, and all stages from fermentation to bottling must take place in the country. It is a protected geographical indication of the European Union.
Baja fish soup from the banks of the Danube, made with carp, onion and ground paprika cooked together in a cauldron, without straining the broth. It’s served over a thin noodle, gyufatészta, with the fish on the side and hot pepper.
Layered sponge cake with thin layers of sponge alternated with chocolate buttercream and topped with a sheet of caramel. It was created by pastry chef József C. Dobos, owner of a delicatessen in Budapest, and presented at the 1885 National General Exhibition.
Crepe folded and filled with walnuts, raisins and candied orange peel, flavored with rum and topped with chocolate sauce. It is named after the Gundel restaurant in Budapest’s City Park, which put it on the menu; the recipe is attributed to Ilona Matzner, wife of the writer Sándor Márai.
Bitter herbal liqueur, dark, produced by the Zwack family in Budapest with a secret recipe of more than 40 herbs and spices, aged in oak casks. The round bottle with a cross on the label is recognised throughout the country.
Szeged river fish soup, red from paprika, made with a thick broth of several fish, carp heads and bones, and onion, passed through a sieve. Carp pieces cook in that broth, and the soup is served with bread and hot pepper on the side.
Sweet wine from the Tokaj wine region in northeastern Hungary, made from grapes affected by noble rot and harvested berry by berry. The aszú berries are crushed and macerated in must or wine, and the wine ages in oak barrels in underground cellars.
White wine from the kéknyelű grape, grown almost exclusively in the Badacsony wine region on the northern shore of Lake Balaton. The grape’s name means “blue stem.” The wines are usually dry with marked acidity, and there are also sparkling and sweet versions.
