After placing their product on the Croatian market, four foreign markets and winning a prize in Brussels, canned čvarci will hit Croatian cafes in September to be offered instead of peanuts or crisps.
Canned čvarci made by a small family trade from Samobor will soon be offered as a snack instead of peanuts or crisps, Zagrebački list reports on August 25, 2017.
Two years ago they were awarded the Superior Taste Award by the International Taste and Quality Institute and this year in July when 130 chefs and sommeliers from Michelin restaurants tasted and rated various products in several categories.
They also won three golden medals at the 84th Agriculture Fair at Novi Sad – for their čvarci, čvarci delikates, and for packaging design.
Miroslav Mataušić, owner of Frelimo, says that they produce 50 t of čvarci (a variant of pork rinds or cracklings) a year in Samobor. His company employs six people.
“I started producing čvarci seven years ago because there were no homemade čvarci on our market, so I thought it was a good opportunity. We produce them from raw material imported from Denmark because there isn’t a balanced offer in Croatia,” Mr Mataušić says.
He would love to be able to get his raw material from Croatia, but the market is disorganised and you are on your own, so it’s impossible because there is no organised production, so he’s not thinking about his own pig farm.
“The final product is the most important thing for me, it’s traditional and sells well in Zagreb, Rijeka and Istria. Not many people are interested in čvarci in Dalmatia, for example, and many people in Slavonia still make their own.”
Mr Mataušić (34) is a young entrepreneur who likes to think globally, guided by principles of supply and demand. Homemade is homemade, he says, but if he can’t ensure a balanced delivery and a top quality product, it reflects on the final product, which needs to be of a high quality, safe and known on the market.
The ingredients are visible on the label and after a two-week vacation, the family started producing čvarci in their family home in Samobor once again. See what the process looks like below:
You can try their čvarci at Pivnica in Radauševa 9 in Zagreb.
Like Frelimo on Facebook here.
All photos from Frelimo obrt za proizvodnju, Facebook.
Excerpts taken and translated from Zagrebački list and Jutarnji list.
