Bohinjski Žganci

Bohinjski Žganci is a traditional Slovenian dense porridge or crumb-dough made from buckwheat flour or a buckwheat-and-barley blend, mixed with boiling salted water and stirred over the fire until it forms a stiff, golden mass. The dish comes from the Bohinj valley in the Julian Alps, where buckwheat has been cultivated on the steep alpine meadows around Lake Bohinj since at least the fourteenth century, and it remains the everyday bread substitute of Upper Carniola.

Žganci is stirred vigorously so that the grains crack and form irregular lumps rather than a smooth paste. It is traditionally served on a wooden board or deep plate, with a depression in the centre filled with hot milk, butter, or a generous pour of žganci sauce made from cracklings, onion, and lard. In the Bohinj valley it is eaten at every meal — breakfast, lunch, and supper — and is also a staple of mountain-hut menus and Triglav National Park festivals.

Today Bohinjski Žganci is served at mountain restaurants around Lake Bohinj (Gostilna Pri Hrvatu, Bohinjska Hiša, Penzion Gašperin in Stara Fužina), at Saturday markets in Bohinjska Bistrica, and at festivals such as the Bohinj Days of Milk and Cheese. Slovenian diaspora communities in Cleveland, Toronto, and Buenos Aires keep the recipe alive at parish dinners, and the dish has been protected since 2015 as part of Slovenia's national intangible cultural heritage (žganci štruklji and other dishes of the Bohinj farm).