Damson Cheese Festival
September 3–4
The "Etar" Museum organizes the Pestil (Damson Cheese) Festival since 2013. During the event the visitors get acquainted with the traditional technology for production of Gabrovian Pestil, included in the World Book of the unique food "The ark of taste".
Accents of the program
- Preparing of pestil (damson cheese) using a traditional recipe
- Alley of the taste with a bazaar and degustations
- Demonstrations of crafts and occupations, connected with the pestil: making of baskets, tinning of vessels, production of wooden spoons and coppersmith ware
- National Youth Competition in Dancing "The Rhythms of Etar"
- Folklore performances
- Educational game with prizes "Plums having luck"
- Thematic exhibitions
The "Etar" museum won the contest "Annual awards in tourism 2018", in the category "The Spirit of Bulgaria" with the event "Damson Cheese Festival".
How to make pestil (damson cheese)?
The technological process of making pestil is prolonged. Only whole, clean, completely ripe, large and pulpy plums are selected and are placed into big copper trays, with a capacity of 200-300 kg, called "pestildjiski" (meaning used for making damson cheese). The mixture, boiled and rubbed through a special sieve, called ''darmon", is spread evenly over beech boards. The dense plum mash layer, about 7-8 mm thick, must be left in strong sunlight in the yard. It takes 2-3 days until it dries completely, then new mash is cooked, which is spread over the first layer. The process is repeated 7-8 times until the desired thickness of the pestil is achieved. When fully dried, the pestil is removed using a spatula. In order to ease the unsticking and to achieve a more intense sweetness a few fistfuls of wild plums should be added during the cooking of the first mess.
The ready pestil is rolled-up and stored in cool airy rooms. It's ready to be consumed about Christmas.
Old inhabitants of Gabrovo recall that once they used to cook 20 tons of plums, obtaining 7 tons of pestil. Being fully dried and stored in suitable conditions, the durability of the pestil reached 10 years.
The ready pestil is rolled-up and stored in cool airy rooms. It's ready to be consumed about Christmas.
Old inhabitants of Gabrovo recall that once they used to cook 20 tons of plums, obtaining 7 tons of pestil. Being fully dried and stored in suitable conditions, the durability of the pestil reached 10 years.
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