Extraordinary Culinary Group Experiences
Looking for authentic hands-on program ideas for your next group? Look no further than a Croatian farm kitchen. The best way to bond with locals is always over food. Croatians cherish their culinary traditions and love sharing them. Enjoy extraordinary culinary experiences for groups.
Zagreb, Split or Dubrovnik, different cuisines, but the same pride in their culinary heritage. Also, everything tastes better when it’s the work of one’s own two hands. Your guests will go home with the best souvenir, a new recipe and a story for their next dinner party. Here are some of our favourite culinary experiences for groups.
Make Štrukli on a Farm in Zagorje
A one-hour drive from Zagreb into the picturesque green hills of Zagorje brings you to Vuglec Breg. This family-run winery and inn safeguards a delightful slice of old Zagorje. Guests can go horseback riding, biking or fishing, or, straight to grandma’s kitchen. .
Most famous of grandmother’s recipe here must be “štrukli”. Baked or boiled cheese dumplings, simple to the eye, but unforgettable in taste and smell.
Learn the secret of the perfect dough and the ideal fresh farm cheese to fill it with.
As with all traditional delicacies, perfect štrukli take time.
But once they come out of the oven, you immediately know you will do this again. This extraordinary culinary experience is a must if you are in Zagreb
Cook like a Neolithic Farmer – Soparnik Workshop
Cetina river is renowned for extreme sports like rafting and canyoning. One of the wildest zipline experiences in the world is there. However, Cetina is also an area of rich history and culture, inhabited since the beginning of time. People of this area have a unique heritage preserved over many millennia. Soparnik, a delicacy completely unique to this rugged region, comes from deep in that history.
Utilizing simple garden greens like spinach and chard, combined with olive oil and garlic, they produced a culinary masterpiece.
Thin pizza-like dough is first stretched very fine. Then, it is filled with the greens mixture and baked in the firepit under an iron bell. The result is a smoky savoury pie of most delectable flavour and texture.
Participants will test their hand in rolling the dough, the essential secret of soparnik. They will chop and prepare the greens for the filling. It is also important to learn how to roll the perfect edges so the pie looks as good as it tastes.
But the most unique part of this experience is preparing the firepit for this cooking style. It awakens ancestral memories from our Neolithic grandmothers. This extraordinary culinary experience is protected as an autochthonous Croatian cultural heritage.
Carob Chocolate Workshop
Dubrovnik Republic was always ahead of it’s time, even in the time of black plague. Old masters had built a massive quarantine complex called Lazareti to protect their population. Today, Lazareti is the creative centre of Dubrovnik, and the home of a women’s co-op. Here you can learn something quite fun making chocolate using unique local ingredients.
True to the native culinary heritage, this chocolate is spiced with carob, olive oil and wild orange peel.
Following an insightful presentation, participants roll up their sleeves and make their own artisan chocolate bites. This delightful culinary experience is also a competition.
It ends with a general tasting and a winner is determined.
Along with their chocolate bites, winners also get to take home the bragging rights. This is only a small sample of unique ways to experience Croatia, contact us to help you tailor your perfect program.
If you need assistance with organising any culinary experiences for groups in Croatia, please contact DT Croatia!