Categories: Gastronomy

Jablanica

Konjic and Jablanica are the localities where one can taste all the types and variety of traditional cuisine typical for Bosnia and Herzegovina. This traditional cuisine usually contains various meats, such as veal, chicken, lamb and fish. Other than the meat specialities, many dishes include legumes, fruits and vegetables such as zucchini, carrots, parsley, beans, onions, garlic and tomato. A lot of different spices are used, such as ground black pepper, chili, bay leaf and basil. When it comes to sauces – they are mostly natural and are vegetable-based. Homemade yoghurt is also often served with meals. Milk products in various forms are, of course, an important segment of the cuisine.  Milk, the aforementioned yoghurt, milk cream and various types of cheese are present in local cuisine in Bosnia and Herzegovina. 
Further to this, Herzegovina is famous for wine production. This land has a long standing viticulture tradition, dating back to Illyrian times. Sunny, dry and warm climate is favourable for grapevine cultivation, with the wine-making tradition that has become an important part of rural development. The most famous wine sorts are certainly "Žilavka", made from white grapes, and "Blatina", made from dark grapes. The "Kameno vino" wine is a local speciality.

Herzegovinian Bellow Cheese
Herzegovinian bellow cheese is made from cow or sheep milk. However, its peculiarity is that it matures in paunches made out of sheep skin. This cheese-making tradition also dates back to the Illyrian times. It is assumed that it originally comes from Illyrian shepherds who used the bellow cheese in their daily diets. Trading documents say that Herzegovinian shepherd-merchants carried this cheese from Herzegovina to Dubrovnik (then Ragusa), where citizens would gladly buy the Herzegovinian speciality. 

Collard
The growing and the consumption of Collard, a type of cabbage leaves without the head, locally goes back long into the past. Legend says that winter in Herzegovina is not winter without collards and dried meat. Collard is an unavoidable food stuff in the local markets. This type of cabbage is specific for its fall time ripening. 

Lamb at Jablanica
Restaurants along the road from Sarajevo to Jablanica are considered the best known places in Bosnia and Herzegovina for the roast lamb (lamb on the spit). Whenever Jablanica is mentioned, most of Bosnians and Herzegovinians think of the most delicious lamb on the spit. This traditional local specialty that was once started by the famous chef named Gojko, is today a kind of brand of this city. On the way to Mostar to the seaside, one can stop at several famous restaurants with a fantastic view over the river Neretva and get the best culinary specialty – roast lamb just taken from the spit with fresh green lettuce and or green onion. 

Konjic Food Fest
The Konjic Food Fest is an international food festival traditionally held in Konjic. Cooking teams from Macedonia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Slovenia participate in the festival. The participants prepare dishes according to a specific gastronomic theme, while, apart from the main competition, they prepare numerous slow-food gastronomic specialties, mainly from the Bosnian traditional cuisine.