The small town of Tinjan in central Istria, near Višnjan, hosts the International Prosciutto Fair each year, a highly anticipated and prestigious event which welcomes many prosciutto makers from all over the world and a large crowd each year.
This year, they’re organising the summer variant of the event, held between July the 19th and the 21st, somewhat smaller in terms of the number of presenters, and also aimed at getting the tourists acquainted with this delicacy, the Istrian pršut.
The word mostly used to translate pršut to English is the Italian Prosciutto, although there are siginificant differences between what’s called pršut in Croatia and prosciutto in Italy. It is an original Croatian product, with a protected geographical origin label (shared with Slovenia, as the Istrian pršut is made in both countries). It differs from other kinds of pršut one can find in Croatia, which is one of the reasons why it was protected.
To celebrate their premium product, the makers of pršut from Istria have been hosting the international fair, usually in October, but have decided that they need to present their products to the numerous tourists arriving to Istria, and to attract them to central Istria for a day.
While obviously not as big as the main event, this one will also be international and you’ll be able to taste pršut made by the following producers: Pršuti Antolović, Pršutarna Dujmović, Pršutana Jelenić, Pršuti Milohanić, Pršuti Radetić, OPG Danijel Erman, OPG Franjul, Budak Pršuti, Compari Pršuti, and Pršutarna Tomaso.
In addition to all the meat, you’ll be able to enjoy the cheeses made by the Robert Fabris, Orbanić Silvano and Cetina Franko family farms, olive oils by the Milohanić, Marčelo Rioža and Pinezić Anđelo family farms and honey from the Brečević family farm and Vinko Dantinjana.
Each day, the events start at 20:00, and the party will go on until 02:00 – so having some pršut in Tinjan will not ruin your day on the beach. Maybe, if there’s a bit more wine involved, it might get in the way of the next one… There will be music and dancing, provided by the local bands.
