EN Official Journal of the European Union C 5/6

Publication of an application 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

(2017/C 5/06)

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).

SINGLE DOCUMENT

‘STUPAVSKÉ ZELÉ’

EU No: PDO-SK-02110 — 26.10.2015

PDO ( X ) PGI ( )

1. Name(s)

‘Stupavské zelé’

2. Member State or Third Country

Slovak Republic

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 the product to which the name in (1) applies

‘Stupavské zelé’ is a processed product, namely sauerkraut, obtained by means of the lactic fermentation of raw (white) cabbage grown in the defined geographical area, without the addition of any preservatives. Shredded cabbage is layered, salted and trodden in vats made of wood or another material suitable for contact with food. Fermentation takes place in a natural outdoor environment at temperatures of up to 25 °C. The quantity of salt and the treading (šľapanie), by means of which excess air and juice is pressed out of the vat, ensure that ‘Stupavské zelé’ stays springy and crunchy. The product derives its characteristics from natural lactic fermentation.

The product is marketed raw.

Appearance : finely shredded cabbage (shred thickness 1,2-2 mm); Colour : white to yellowish; must not be grey or reddish; Texture : finely shredded, springy, crunchy; must not be soft; Odour : lactic acid smell of fermented cabbage, free of extraneous odours; Flavour : slightly salty and sour, without extraneous flavours; Composition : shredded cabbage, salt (max. 3 %); Solids content : min. 70 %

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

‘Stupavské zelé’ sauerkraut is made from late varieties of white head cabbage grown only in the defined area and table salt. The following late varieties of white head cabbage are used: the indigenous variety, known as ‘Krajová’ (i.e. of/from Záhorie), or commonly available and certified hybrid varieties listed in the catalogue of varieties of vegetable species as most recently published in the Official Journal of the European Union. The varieties used to make ‘Stupavské zelé’ are grown in the geographical area concerned. The product is made either from a single variety or from several varieties.

The local variety and late varieties of white head cabbage are distinguished by their more delicate leaf structure and earthy pungent taste. The topsoil comprises humic, mainly loam and loamy-sandy, sediments of the Morava flood plain, which are several metres thick in places and deposited on top of substantially coarser, heterogeneous clayey, sandy to calcareous (Neogene) sediments that have a compact consistency and good water-binding properties, thus ensuring more sustained groundwater availability. It is precisely because the cabbage has a supply of groundwater virtually throughout its entire growing season and requires very little surface irrigation that it has a delicate leaf structure.

Apart from having a delicate leaf structure, it is typically flat-headed, and so yields long shreds, with a slender core, and has a long growing season of up to 180 days, with early sowing and late harvesting making the most of the area’s soil and hydrogeological conditions.

The significant heterogeneity and vertical differentiation of the subsoil mean that, even within small areas, crops vary considerably, cabbages weighing from 2 kg to as much as 17 kg; smaller cabbages receiving less moisture from the soil during the growing season retain a pronounced pungent taste, and it is because they are mixed with larger cabbages, which have a less pronounced taste, that the product’s taste naturally comes to the fore after fermentation.

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

The entire production process takes place exclusively within the defined geographical area, in the following stages:

— Harvesting and post-harvest treatment

— Coring and shredding The cabbage head is separated from the root, the outer leaves are removed and the remainder is cleaned before being shredded. The core is first removed whole or crushed using a corer fitted with a winged drill bit, and shredding then takes place in a shredder. The shredder’s rotary blades are set to a shred thickness of 1,2-2 mm, mainly because a fine shred speeds up fermentation. The blades are sickle-shaped; the cabbages hit the blades side-on, their core level with the blade.

— Layering The shredded cabbage is removed from the shredder immediately after shredding in order to prevent oxidation and unwanted enzymatic changes and is placed in layers in fermentation vats made of wood or another inert food-grade material. It is interlayered with salt, starting with a layer of salt at the bottom. A layer is made every 10-15 cm, each layer being salted in such a way that 2 kg of salt is used for 100 kg of cabbage. Salting promotes the release of cellular juices, slows down microbial processes and contributes to the quality of the product.

— Treading Layers of shredded cabbage 10-15 cm thick are successively placed in a vat and salted, and each layer is traditionally pressed down by treading, for which food-grade rubber boots are used.

— Fermentation takes place without the addition of preservatives, in a natural outdoor environment.

— The finished product is stored in dry and ventilated storage facilities. Raw cabbage intended for the production of ‘Stupavské zelé’ must be grown, harvested and processed in the geographical area specified in point 4 in order to prevent oxidation and unwanted enzymatic changes and to guarantee the origin of the product and ensure production control.

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

Cabbage for ‘Stupavské zelé’ must be grown and processed in the municipality of Stupava or its environs, in the area between the western slopes of the Little Carpathians and the southern part of the Záhorie Lowland. The area is bounded to the east by the slopes of the Little Carpathians and to the west by the River Morava. The defined area is bounded to the north by the canalised Sedlisko, the Zohorský potok and canalised Malina streams, and to the south by the Vápenický potok, a stream which flows into the canalised Mláka and on into the River Morava.

5. Link with the geographical area

‘Stupavské zelé’ derives its name from the town of Stupava, which is historically associated with the growing and processing of cabbages; the product started to be called after the town to distinguish it from cabbages from other regions and, above all, of a different quality. The second part of the name indicates the product type and means ‘cabbage’ in the local Záhorie dialect. The word zelé, which is used in this area, may be linked to the Croatian population of Mást, which is part of Stupava. Cabbage is zelje in Croatian. As Mást, like other nearby municipalities (which are now part of Bratislava), was colonised by Croats, some Croatian expressions became established and are still in use in this part of Záhorie.

Head cabbages are grown in the southern part of the Záhorie Lowland, between the slopes of the Little Carpathians and the basin of the River Morava, which has a comparatively low altitude and a relatively dry and warm climate. The defined area mainly comprises flatland aeolian (wind-blown) terrain composed of sandy deposits. Stupava is 174 m above sea-level, with fields of rather coarse alluvial soil, and it is precisely these conditions that create a suitable environment for cabbage-growing. As stated by Anton Hrnko in his publication Stupava, ‘By virtue of its climate and soils, southern Záhorie constitutes a unique agricultural region ideal for cabbages in particular’. The product’s specific characteristics are due to a combination of the geographical area’s specificity and its human potential.

Loam and loamy-sandy soils on coarse clay, sandy and even calcareous sediments ensure a more sustained supply of groundwater and minimise dependency on surface irrigation, and this is reflected in a more delicate leaf structure that makes it possible to shred the cabbage more finely.

Subsoil differentiation and heterogeneity result in crop variations, with cabbages ranging from 2 to 17 kg in weight. Smaller cabbages have a rather pronounced earthy pungency, and the finished product’s taste develops naturally after fermentation as a result of mixing them with larger cabbages that have a less pronounced taste.

The soil and hydrogeological conditions have shaped the properties of the raw materials and hence also the way in which the finished product is processed. Owing to the pronounced earthy pungent taste of the smaller cabbages, there is no need to add any other ingredients, spices or preservatives when making ‘Stupavské zelé’, which is not the case in other regions.

The typical white to yellowish colour of ‘Stupavské zelé’ as a finished product, and its lactic-acid smell and mildly salty-sour taste without extraneous odours or flavours, are due not only to the raw material’s specific characteristics but also to the traditional processing method and, in particular, the fermentation time, which is dependent on the outdoor temperature, requiring expertise and skill.

The pedo-climatic conditions have shaped the local population’s activities. The experience and skills built up over generations are reflected in the method of cultivating (the local Záhorie variety), harvesting, shredding (drills fitted with winged bits to bore into or crush cabbage cores, sickle-shaped shredder blades, 1,2-2 mm shred thickness to speed up fermentation), layering, treading (specific method of pressing) and fermenting the cabbage (fermentation time in fermentation vessels placed in vented shelters varies from year to year, depending on the outdoor temperature) and have a significant impact on the product’s final characteristics.

According to historical records, it was mainly thanks to the sauerkraut they supplied that farmers from Stupava and the surrounding area very quickly took control of Vienna’s vegetable markets, to the extent that the Viennese used to refer to traditional sauerkraut as slowakisches Salat (Slovak salad). However, the resourceful people of Stupava did not confine themselves to making sauerkraut at home. Local farmers banded together and, at the end of the 19th century, set up a firm called Spoločnosť zelovej fabriky, which started producing sauerkraut on an industrial scale.

Sauerkraut had been popular in Europe since the second half of the 19th century, when it had begun to be promoted as a source of vitamin C. The setting-up of factories producing sauerkraut received widespread support, including from the authorities of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in part also because of the First World War and the associated poverty, hunger and epidemics. Written sources attesting to the growing, sale and export of cabbages date from much earlier times.

Mention should also be made of the cannery, which is still remembered by people alive today. Its history, however, dates back to the period of the First Czechoslovak Republic. Rudolf Apoštol began building the cannery in 1926. Its products were intended both for the domestic market and for foreign markets, in Austria, Germany and Finland. A large plant equipped with large-capacity vats was established for the processing and fermenting of cabbage. The firm was nationalised in 1950. and became known as Záhorské liehovary a konzervárne, národný podnik, Stupava. The construction of a new cabbage-processing plant with 72 concrete tanks, each capable of fermenting 40 tonnes of cabbage, was completed in 1965.

Although sauerkraut has been produced at various plants and by different companies, depending on the societal changes that have taken place in the country, the product’s specific characteristics and the traditional production method have been preserved to this day.

It is clear from the above that the cultivation of white head cabbages, for several centuries known locally as ‘zelé’, has played a key part in the history of Mást and Stupava in terms of both domestic and foreign trade. Trading in this commodity has been, and still is, one of the main sources of income for many local inhabitants.

Sauerkraut from Stupava (‘Stupavské zelé’) has been part of the local food culture for several centuries. ‘Stupavské zelé’ has become a feature of Dni zelá (Cabbage Days), a major regional event that is always held in early October. ‘Stupavské zelé’ is a thread that runs through the history of Mást and Stupava, creating roots that have endured and should be safeguarded and strengthened.

Reference to publication of the specification

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

http://www.upv.sk/swift_data/source/pdf/specifikacie_op_oz/SPECIFIKACIA_Stupavske_zele.pdf

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