Latvian food producers gather at Jelgava festival

Jelgava hosted its 26th Milk, Bread and Honey Festival and the 24th Latvian Regional Cheese Day, bringing together food producers from across Latvia, LSM reported, citing Zemgale Regional Television.

Beekeepers said this year’s honey harvest was significantly better, while bakers reported that demand for traditional rye bread remained steady. For small cheese producers, maintaining competitive prices was an increasingly difficult challenge.

Several dozen beekeepers from different parts of Latvia offered their products at the festival. Among them was Rimants Gaidamovičs from Naukšēni, who has kept bees for 50 years. His bee bread in honey received a silver award at last year’s festival, while customers particularly favoured buckwheat honey this year.

Gaidamovičs said honey prices had not changed compared with last year, but production was up by as much as 40 percent. “Last year there was no linden honey or buckwheat honey. This year the buckwheat honey is excellent,” he said.

Andrejs Broks from Madona has been baking traditional rye bread for 30 years, producing as many as 100 loaves a month. He said the quality of the flour remained good and customers continued to value their traditions, buying rye bread and sweet-and-sour bread, as well as white bread and ring-shaped bread.

Laima Bičkovska travelled to Jelgava from Gulbene municipality. The farm she represents has been producing fresh cheese for 20 years. She said small producers faced significant pressure, while customers could choose from more than 20 varieties, including many marinated cheeses and popular fresh cheeses.

The cheese day featured more than 75 varieties of cheese. One visitor, Ilze, said she was a trained dairy technologist and always tried to taste what was being produced in Latvia.