Products made from buffalo and donkey meat could receive the GEOfood trademark

By: STA Date: 2022. 11. 17. 11:02

Starting today, a total of four Hungarian artisanal producers and two restaurants can use the GEOfood international trademark, after Ferenc Szalai, the representative of the Mátra Buffalo Reserve, ceremoniously received the certificate of trademark usage at the general meeting of the Nógrád County Municipality.

Ferenc Szalai, Júlia Nagy and Nándor Skuczi at the award ceremony

Currently, a total of 34 UNESCO Global Geopark entrepreneurs in 21 countries around the world can apply to use the trademark. GEOfood products must have a close connection with the local geological heritage, and specific short written information about this connection must also be provided on the food. During production, the use of local raw materials and the pursuit of environmental-social-economic sustainability are of utmost importance – for example, the employment of local employees and the provision of the shortest possible supply chain are of utmost importance.

The unique taste is due to special feed

The products of the Mátra Buffalo Reserve are natives that grow wild herbs and herbs in free-range grazing on the extremely rich mineral and trace element structure of mineral and biogenic diatomaceous earth, marl, quartzite, tuffite soil stratifications deposited during post-volcanic hot spring cratering on the andesite and rhyolite tuff rock foundations of the so-called “Szurdokpüspöki formation” Miocene volcanic activity they come from livestock. At the western gate of the Mátra, on the border of Szurdokpüspöki, on one of its largest plateaus (Laposok), on about 120 hectares, in an area classified as Natura 2000, and on the border of the village of Herencsény, the animals of the Buffalo Reserve – mainly Hungarian domestic buffaloes and wild donkeys – live in the wild. Due to the gastronomic processing of individuals not intended for further breeding, meat, as well as sausage, salami, ham and other meat products are prepared with traditional aging, the products are flavored with natural salt, natural spices, and locally found wild herbs. The Buffalo Reserve also offers safari programs, in the framework of which guests can take part in cross-country buffalo rides, and at the end of the program, they can also taste artisan meat dishes made from GEOfood trademarked buffalo and donkey meat.

The GEOfood trademark program was launched in 2021 in the Novohrad-Nógrád Geopark, and the current goal is to make these products available in as many places as possible at the geopark’s tourist service providers from the following years and to include them as much as possible in the tourist offer, helping one the creation of a unique tourism brand based on geotourism offers.