Hungary Has More to Offer Than Bulls Blood Wine

Hungarian wine has a history dating back to at least Roman times, and that history reflects the country's position between the Slavs and the Germanic peoples. The best-known wines are the white dessert wine Tokay (Tokaji) and Bull's Blood (Egri Bikavér), a full-bodied red wine.

Despite what many may think, the area known as Hungary holds more wine tradition than any other country in Europe. Most of this very tradition is just now surfacing in the light, with people finally starting to catch wind about everything Hungarian wine has to offer. Even though many wine drinkers aren’t familiar with Hungary - there are many who are.

Hungary is home to over 20 wine regions, fully of forests, vineyards, and orchards. With several different varieties of grapes to offer, the vineyards found in Hungary have flourished since the great Roman Times. The weather in Hungary is seasonal to say the least, with cold winters and extremely hot summers. This weather allows the soil in the country to be diverse, which allows wine makers to create a variety of quality wines.

Despite the communist control in the past, there are several different wines found in Hungary. Although the vineyards here produce a lot of excellent wines, Tokay Aszu is by far the favorite here and the wine that locals always love raising their glass to. Tokay Aszu is a popular wine with meals or dessert, in Hungary and also happens to be one of the most popular dessert wines in the entire world.

Tokay Aszu was discovered in the mid 17th century in Hungary, quickly becoming a favorite for many European aristocrats. Even though it was great to the taste, many believed that certain types of the wine had mystical healing powers. Although this was strictly a rumor, it actually helped the wine become more popular than ever. Over the years, Tokay Aszu was one indeed the most popular wine in Hungary, spreading to other areas of the world as well.

Egri Bikaver, also referred to as Bulls Blood is another popular wine found in Hungary. This is another popular wine for locals, and can be found throughout the world as well. Getting it’s name from it’s color, Bulls Blood is truly a feast for anyone who likes wine. The wine is dark red in color, yet sweet to the taste. The wine was first developed back in the 16th century, and remains popular even to this day.

If you ever visit Hungary, there are many places you can visit to get some great wine. You should also make a point to visit Tokay, located in the northeast. You can take a train from Budapest and arrive here in a few hours. There are several different wine flavors and varieties here, sure to please just about anyone. The wineries found throughout the Tokay area are normally open for tours and tasters from May to the end of October. If you visit during these months, you can tour the underground cellars, sample the superb wine, and learn more than you ever thought possible about the manufacturing of Hungarian wines.

All in the all, the wine found in Hungary is great to have in your collection or just have around the house for special occasions. You can get it by the bottle, the glass, or by the case. All types of Hungarian wine has been perfected over the years, making it something that you really can’t go wrong with. If you like to drink wine, as most of us do, you really can’t go wrong with any type of Hungarian wine. Hungarian wine gives wine lovers plenty to study, plenty to order, and plenty to drink. The wine is very tasty and refreshing - and it helps to keep the nation of Hungary thirsty for more.

Visitors who refer to Hungary as a Balkan country risk getting a lecture on how this small, landlocked nation of just over ten million people differs from "all those Slavs". Hungary was likened by the poet Ady to a "river ferry, continually travelling between East and West, with always the sensation of not going anywhere but of being on the way back from the other bank"; and its people identify strongly with the West while at the same time displaying a fierce pride in themselves as Magyars - a race that transplanted itself from Central Asia into the heart of Europe.

Best of Hungary

Danube Bend One of the most enchanting stretches of the River Danube sweeps its way up from Budapest before twisting dramatically through a forested valley towards Slovakia - the views are best appreciated from atop Visegrád Citadel.

Szentendre This once thriving artists' colony, just 19km from Budapest, is now a delightful town boasting some magical museums, great art and a rich Serbian legacy.

Sziget Festival One of Europe's premier rock festivals, held on Sziget Island in Budapest, brings together a host of stars from every musical genre for eight hectic days.

Tihany Peninsula The picturesque village of Tihany, overlooked by a Benedictine abbey, is the jewel in Lake Balaton's crown.

Thermal baths There's no better way to relax than in one of Budapest's magnificent Turkish Baths.

Budapest Zoo The kids will love the animals, whilst the adults will appreciate the fabulous Art Nouveau pavilions they're housed in.

Gundel You'll have to dress the part if you want to dine in Budapest's most celebrated, and most expensive, restaurant.

Statue Park Communism isn't quite dead in this extraordinary Budapest park housing a collection of monumental statues from the old regime.

Watersports on Lake Balaton Siófok and Keszthely are just two of the resorts where you can sail, windsurf or, of course, swim.

Even under Communism, Hungary was renowned for its abundance of food: material proof of the "goulash socialism" that amazed visitors from Romania and the Soviet Union. Nowadays, there is more choice than ever, particularly in Budapest, where almost every cuisine in the world is available.
For foreigners the archetypal Magyar dish is "goulash" - historically the basis of much Hungarian cooking . The ancient Magyars relished cauldrons of gulyás (pronounced "gou-yash"), a soup made of potatoes and whatever meat was available, which was later flavoured with paprika and beefed up into a variety of stews, modified over the centuries by various foreign influences. Hungary's Slav neighbours probably introduced native cooks to yogurt and sour cream - vital ingredients in many dishes - while the influence of the Turks, Austrians and Germans is apparent in a variety of sticky pastries and strudels, as well as recipes featuring sauerkraut or dumplings. Another influence was that of France, which revolutionized Hungarian cooking in the Middle Ages and again in the nineteenth century. Today, the influences are "international", with fast food such as pizzas, hamburgers and kebabs spreading from the capital to provincial towns, and even signs of vegetarian food and nouvelle cuisine .

Breakfast, snacks and takeaway foodAs a nation of early risers, Hungarians like to have a calorific breakfast ( reggeli ). Commonly, this includes cheese, eggs or salami together with bread and jam, and in rural areas is often accompanied by a shot of pálinka ...read more >>

Main mealsTraditionally, Hungarians take their main meal at lunchtime , although the old tendency for restaurants to have fewer dishes available in the evenings has now disappeared. However, it is worth remembering that many places still close early,...read more >>

Coffee houses and patisseriesMany Hungarians like to kick-start the day with coffee , followed by further intakes at various intervals throughout the day, usually in the form of tiny glasses of kávé : super-strong, served black and sweetened to taste, this is a...read more >>

DrinkingHungary's climate and diversity of soils are perfect for wine ( bor ), though cold winters mean that reds are usually on the light side. In the last few years the wine market has really begun to take off, and, though good vintages...read more >>

Wine bars ( borozó ) are ubiquitous and far less pretentious than in the West: the wine served is often pretty rough stuff, and there's usually a cluster of interesting characters round the bar. True devotees of the grape make pilgrimages to the extensive wine cellars ( borospince ) that honeycomb towns like Tokaj and Eger. By day, people often drink wine with water or soda water, specifying a fröccs or a yet more diluted hosszú lépés (literally, a "long step"). Wine can be sweet ( édes ), dry ( száraz ), semi-sweet ( félédes ) or semi-dry ( félszáraz ). Hungarians enjoy the ritual of toasting , so the first word to get your tongue around is egészségedre ("EGG-aish-shaig-edreh") - "cheers!" When toasting more than one other person, it's grammatically correct to change this to egészségünkre ("cheers to us!"). Hungarians only consider it appropriate to toast with wine or spirits. A simpler version that will get you by is szia (see-ya) for one person, and sziasztok (see-ya-stock) for more people.


Hungary
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Badacsony village
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Badacsonyörs
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Balatonalmádi
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Balatonfüred
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Balatonlelle, Kishegy and Balatonboglár
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Balatonszemes
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Balatonszárszó
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Balatonvilágos
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Budapest
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Csopak
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Dobogóko and Dömös
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Esztergom
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Fonyód
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Hévíz
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Keszthely
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Nagybörzsöny, Kóspallag and Márianosztra
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Nagymaros
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Pomáz
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Siófok
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Szentendre
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Szob
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Tihany
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Visegrád
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Vác
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Zebegény

More Wine, Food, Cooking Tips and Recipies

Friday night is WINE NIGHT!

Bank Holiday has finally arrived. A long weekend to relax and perhaps try a few new recipies and glug more than a few glasses of wine.

The LPR directory has had almost 200,000 page views and now has over 10,000 articles. It's been hard work and every editor/article approver deserves a "pat-on-the-back" for maintaining the integrity of our content. Sure a few spam articles slipped through the screening process, but far more were deleted. Visitor feedback has been very positive and much of the LPR traffic is from return visitors. This bodes well for the future.

Another research project was released this week using the Gloc-Rap domain. The niche site deals with wine and food. All pages are updated daily with new information, while the original article remains static. Altogether there's over 180 pages of good wine and food information. If you're stuck for something to read or need a special wine, recipe or food tip, why not give it a go?



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Todays top article at LPR is:

The Raw Food Diet, is it Right for You?

The Raw Food Diet is one of first things that come to mind when someone hears or sees the word "diet". In this type of diet, you only eat foods that are not cooked. In this way, it is believed you gain all of the available nutrients contained within the food. When considering this type of dieting technique, it is important to know the details about what is involved.

The raw food diet is based on idea that everything should be eaten while living, or as close to living as possible. This living material is not necessarily the food, but the enzymes that are in the food. Many of these enzymes are known to die after they reach one-hundred and two degrees. Thus, while cooking foods also kills harmful organisms, it also destroys these important enzymes. Heat also causes the structure of the food to break down and cause the food to become toxic (although the reverse appears to be true in potatoes). Enzymes are often referred to as the energy that is contained in the food.

The first difference that will happen if one begins eating raw food is a change in the balance and functioning of the bodies system. Cooked foods force the stomach to deal with larger molecules, thus leading to the production of more acid. When one eats only raw foods, the stomach acid becomes less dominant in what is passed along to the intestines.

Raw food diets can be divided into several different categories. There are those that are made up of mostly fruit, sprouts, or fruit juices. Depending on which types of nutrients are needed, you change the foods you eat.

Some raw foods will include nuts, in order to get protein. If this is part of your diet, it is best to soak the nuts for twenty-four hours, which allows for the rejuvenation of the enzymes.

There are also several diets that are made up mostly of raw foods, with a few cooked foods on occasion. Usually, a raw food diet consists of a minimum of seventy-five percent raw food.

There are several different changes that those on a raw food diet will notice. The first is that there is increased energy. This also includes an overall improvement in general health. The body will also go through a process to detoxify, and get rid of all the harmful chemicals built up over the years from cooked foods. The immune system is also known to improve with this kind of diet.

If you are interested in a raw food diet, you can expect your body to go through several changes. The raw food diet is one that is well known among several who are interested in changing their lifestyle towards eating different types of enzymes. The results of the raw food diet help with an increase in energy, as well as a change in the balance and functioning of the body. By looking into and researching what the raw food diet will include, you can decide whether it is a right move for you.

Article Republished From: Liberated Press Releases a web site that DOESN'T use Google Adsense text links in or around articles.

Author Resource:- Scott Meyers is a staff writer for Its Entirely Natural, a resource for helping you achieve a naturally healthy body, mind, and spirit. You may contact our writers through the web site. Follow this link for more information on Nutrition and Health .

Don't Whine About It... Drink the Wine in Moderation

Light, moderate or heavy? I guess the classification of your wine consumption levels is down to each individual. During my time in the army, I saw lots of people of all sizes drink incredible quantities of alcohol with no apparant side effects. In later life I've come to understand that moderation should have started years ago.

I like red wine and often drink far to much for my health. How do I know this? NOT by reading articles or counting "units"... it's a really simple deduction. After to much wine I feel aweful the next morning!

Anyway, I found the article below to be interesting although it does rehash many other tall tales about various "good-for-your-heart" foods and drinks.

Regular and Moderate Wine Drinking

Wine and Health: The medical profession has recognized the healthful and nutritive properties of wine for thousands of years. Hippo crates recommended specific wines to purge fever, disinfect and dress wounds, as diuretics, or for nutritional supplements, around 450 B.C. Wine is a mild natural tranquilizer, serving to reduce anxiety and tension.

As part of a normal diet, wine provides the body with energy, with substances that aid digestion, and with small amounts of minerals and vitamins. It can also stimulate the appetite. In addition, wine serves to restore nutritional balance, relieve tension, sedate and act as a mild euphoric agent to the convalescent and especially the aged. Although wine may be the oldest remedy and prophylactic still in use, there was an entire generation of medical professionals, especially in America, that obtained their medical education during the historical period known as Prohibition. Medical texts for nearly twenty-five years were purged and censored of any mention of alcohol, including wine, for any application other than external. This medical generation became educators to the following one, perpetuating medical ignorance of the potential health benefits of wine.

REGULARITY & MODERATION: Moderate wine drinking was discovered to be one prominent factor. Studies in England and Denmark found the occurrence of coronary disease to be much higher in heavy or binge drinkers and (surprise!) even higher in abstainers. Moderate consumption of red wine on a regular basis may be a preventative against coronary disease and some forms of cancer. Clinical and statistical evidence and laboratory studies have shown these to boost the immune system, block cancer formation, and possibly protect against heart disease and even prolong life.

More evidence suggests that wine dilates the small blood vessels and helps to prevent angina and clotting. Alcohol component in wine also help in the maintenance of cholesterol in a human body. Wine might even defend cognitive function in the elderly. Several European studies have shown the prophylactic effects of regular light to moderate alcohol consumption may include the prevention or adjournment of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other forms of dementia. Could wine be the original brain food? Over 400 studies worldwide, and the other awareness aspects have concluded that the peoples who drink wine regularly and moderately live longer. The single group exception, whose members should not consume any alcohol, is pre-menopausal women with a family history of breast cancer. The keys to the beneficial aspects are regularity and moderation. Over indulgence can be considerably more harmful than total abstinence. http://www.drinksos.com

Article Republished From: Liberated Press Releases and Other FREE Information a web site that DOESN'T use Google Adspam (Adsense text links) in or around articles.

Author Resource:- Bernard Bubman R.Ph, a renowned pharmacist, has worked for 30 years in the alternative medicine world. His expertise in formulations for health benefits is unsurpassed.