Publication of an application for registration of a name pursuant to Article 50(2)(a) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs

(2020/C 235/06)

This publication confers the right to oppose the application pursuant to Article 51 of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council (1) within three months from the date of this publication.

SINGLE DOCUMENT

‘SZOMOLYAI RÖVIDSZÁRÚ FEKETE CSERESZNYE’

EU No: PDO-HU-02380 – 20.12.2017 ……

PDO(X) PGI ( )

1. Name(s)

‘Szomolyai rövidszárú fekete cseresznye’

2. Member State or third country

Hungary (Member State)

3. Description of the agricultural product or foodstuff

3.1. Type of product

Class 1.6: Fruit, vegetables and cereals, fresh or processed

3.2. Description of product to which the name in (1) applies

The protected designation of origin (PDO) ‘Szomolyai rövidszárú fekete cseresznye’ [short-stemmed black cherry of Szomolya] covers fruit, intended for fresh consumption, of the ‘Rövidszárú fekete’ (‘short-stemmed black’] and ‘Mézédes fekete’ [sweet black] varieties of cherry (Prunus avium (L.) L.) found in Szomolya and surrounds, as well as of the State-recognised ‘Szomolyai fekete’ [Szomolya black] variety.

One hundred of these cherries weigh at least 450 g, whereas the mean weight of a cherry, based on the weight of 100 cherries, is 4,5 g ±0,7 g. The diameter of the cherry ranges from a minimum of 18 mm to a maximum of 23 mm.

It has the shape of a broad, flattened, truncated cone reminiscent of a heart, with an apex slightly depressed or flush with the fruit. The stem is short (2–3 cm) and detaches easily from the fruit.

The skin of the cherry is a dark purplish-red, turning blackish-red or virtually black when fully ripe. The skin is medium firm and durable, so the fruit is transportable. The flesh is dark claret in colour, moderately firm and juicy. The juice has a rich colour. The dark-red colour of the juice does not fade during processing.

The cherry has a honey-sweet taste.

The fruit has the following chemical characteristics:

Sugar content: Brix value of 20o or more

Maximum acidity: 0,4 g/100g

Dry matter: not less than 19 %

‘Szomolyai rövidszárú fekete cseresznye’ ripens around the middle of June.

3.3. Feed (for products of animal origin only) and raw materials (for processed products only)

—

3.4. Specific steps in production that must take place in the identified geographical area

Cultivation and harvesting take place in the identified geographical area.

3.5. Specific rules concerning slicing, grating, packaging, etc. of the product the registered name refers to

—

3.6. Specific rules concerning labelling of the product the registered name refers to

—

4. Concise definition of the geographical area

‘Szomolyai rövidszárú fekete cseresznye’ is produced within the administrative boundaries of Szomolya, Ostoros, Novaj, Noszvaj, Bogács, Tard and Tibolddaróc.

5. Link with the geographical area

The fruit of ‘Szomolyai rövidszárú fekete cseresznye’ owes its quality and characteristics to the geographical environment and associated natural and human factors.

‘Szomolyai rövidszárú fekete cseresznye’ is produced from the ‘Rövidszárú fekete’ and ‘Mézédes fekete’ ancestral local varieties grown exclusively in the geographical area, and from the ‘Szomolyai fekete’, a State-recognised variety selectively bred in the Szomolya area and included in the National Catalogue of Varieties.

The ‘Szomolyai rövidszárú fekete cseresznye’ derives the following characteristics from the geographical area: its heart-shaped fruit, short stem, blackish colour and honey-sweet taste.

Fruit of the varieties cultivated in the geographical area is typically heart-shaped, of a small size and weight, and has a short stem of two to three centimetres in length. Because of the soil type, the fruit contains a lot of colour-producing compounds – hence its colour tends towards black – and it has a shiny (reflective) surface. The low acid content of the fruit, a product of soil conditions, and the fruit’s high sugar content, a product of the climate, together give it a honey-sweet taste.

Natural factors

The geographical area is located in the south-western part of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county in the Bükkalja region of Hungary, where the Bükkalja hills meet the vast flatlands of the Great Hungarian Plain.

This region is characterised by steep hillsides covered in vineyards and fruit orchards, sun-drenched ridges and hilltops, long and narrow southward-running valleys, closed forests and flatland areas close to the Great Hungarian Plan, which have long been given over to agriculture. Distinctly asymmetrical, with steep northern slopes, the range of hills falling away towards the Great Hungarian Plain have come about as the result of Tertiary and Quaternary structural movements that dislocated the volcanic surface rock. Within the region, deposits of rhyolite tuff of volcanic origin and overlying calcareous loess predominate. This also determines the soil conditions: the mainly clayey-silt forest soils, brown soils and, in some places, black erubase soils are mildly acidic. The reason for this is that during the Miocene geological epoch, on the fringes of the Bükk limestone massif, magma emerging on the surface combined both chemically and physically with the original calcareous soil.

The geographical area has a climate that is moderately cool and moderately dry. Annual sunshine is between 1 850 and 1 900 hours: 720–740 in summer and 150–170 in winter. The annual average temperature falls between 8,6 °C and 8,8 °C, the multiannual average for the growing season being between 15,5 °C and 16 °C. Total annual precipitation is 550–650 mm, and the average precipitation during the growing season is 370–400 mm.

Similar soil and climatic conditions can be found nowhere else in Hungary.

Link between the product and the geographical area

‘Szomolyai rövidszárú fekete cseresznye’ fruit are characteristically heart-shaped; the colour of their skin and flesh is intense dark-red or nearly black; their high dry matter content, high sugar content and low acidity result in their having a balanced, honey-sweet taste.

‘Szomolyai rövidszárú fekete cseresznye’ fruit have a very close link to the geographical area.

In the development of the specific characteristics of ‘Szomolyai rövidszárú fekete cseresznye’ described above, the combination of microclimatic and soil factors characteristic of the region plays a decisive role.

Its characteristic shape is due to the varieties of the cherry used, or rather the State-recognised cultivar bred from those varieties.

The soil characteristics of the deposits of rhyolite tuff of volcanic origin are what determines the fruit’s high dry matter content and intense red, almost black, colour, which is found only in fruit grown in this geographical area.

Owing to the southern exposure of the growing area and the high number of sunshine hours, as well as the moderately cool weather that prolongs the ripening period, incorporation of sugars takes place over a longer period, resulting in fruit with a high sugar content (at least 20° Brix). This is much higher than the average sugar content of cherries cultivated in Hungary – 14° Brix. The high number of sunshine hours contributes towards the skin and flesh of the fruit being high in anthocyanin and hence richly coloured.

Owing to the region’s moderately calcareous loess soil and the weakly acidic soils comprising a mixture of metavolcanic andesite and rhyolite tuff, the fruit grown here has a low acid content (a maximum of 0,4 g of acid/100 g of fruit). This is considerably less than the average acid content for cherries cultivated in Hungary – 0,68 g/100 g.

The combined effect of the resulting high sugar content and low acidity means that the only place in Hungary where the honey-sweet taste characteristic of the fruit achieves its full expression is Szomolya and the surrounding area.

The low average weight (4,5 g) of ‘Szomolyai rövidszárú fekete cseresznye’, a result of the varieties it comes from, is much less than that of other cherries – 7–8 g.

Human knowledge and expertise are also crucially important throughout the production process. The tradition of cultivating the cherry’s ancestral varieties (‘Rövidszárú fekete’ and ‘Mézédes fekete’) and the selective breeding of the ‘Szomolyai fekete’ cultivar can both be linked to Szomolya. These varieties provided the basis on which centuries-old techniques for cultivating the Szomolya cherry could be fully expressed.

Harvesting, a task requiring considerable expertise, is done by hand. Since the cherry is a fruit that ripens on the tree and has no post-ripening capacity, local knowledge is crucial for determining whether it is ripe enough to be harvested. The decision to harvest is taken on the basis of what colour and how sweet the cherries are, and whether they are moderately firm. To select fruit that is ripe enough to be picked, the fruit-picker takes these factors into account. To help promote hand picking, the tree must be pruned to obtain the most suitable shape and size for harvesting by hand. The crown of the tree is broad rather than tall, spherical and of 10–12 metres in diameter. The cherry tree is shaped for the following year at harvest time. The picker prunes the branches and shapes the tree to obtain the optimum shape for harvesting by hand. Ventilation of the tree crown from the inside as a result of pruning exposes the cherries to more sunlight, thus facilitating sugar formation. Furthermore, crown shaping enables fruit in the crown of the tree to ripen fully.

A traditional piece of equipment used for harvesting the fruit is the cherry picking platform. It is a 3–4 metre tall wooden ladder-like structure, surmounted by a platform on which the pickers can place their pail or simply sit and harvest the crown of the tree. To harvest the less accessible cherries, the cherry pickers pull branches located beyond their reach towards them using a specially shaped long-handled hook, known by locals as a ‘kamó’. Cherries harvested from branches are collected in a wicker or cane backpack (known locally as a ‘hátyi’) and a lot of care is taken to safeguard the integrity of the fruit, which is extremely fragile when ripe. If the ‘hátyi’ is full, it is unloaded into the lidded cherry-picker’s pail on the cherry picker platform. This enables the integrity of the ripe cherries to be preserved.

Reference to publication of the specification

(the second subparagraph of Article 6(1) of this Regulation)

www.gi.kormany.hu/foldrajzi-arujelzok

(1) OJ L 343, 14.12.2012, p. 1.