Shepherd's house in the Carpathians Kolyba. Kolyby in the Ukrainian Carpathians. Hutsul dairy products

In Transcarpathia there are many “lures” for tourists - mountains, castles, beautiful towns with cobbled streets, and finally, resorts with mineral water... Of course, a large number of tourists come here every year. Some stay in boarding houses or hotels, while others rent a room/house in villages. But even if in the boarding house you are fed morning, noon and evening, and in the house you have a kitchen at your disposal where you will cook for yourself, you will still definitely go to a real Carpathian kolyba - a wooden restaurant in ethnic style.

What can you profit from here? Yes, all the same famous Ukrainian dishes - borscht and soups, dumplings and dumplings, chops and pancakes. But all this can be tasted in other regions of both Ukraine and the CIS. What interesting things can you order that are prepared and served only here?

Bograch

Probably one of the most famous dishes of Transcarpathian (and Hungarian) cuisine. In recent years, it has even become customary to organize a “bograch party” here, inviting tourists especially to a cauldron of this delicious soup.

There is no classic and unshakable composition of bograch - it will be different for each housewife (and in each kolyba), like Ukrainian borscht. However, its basic ingredients are: pork (often a leg, that is, a shank), broth, potatoes, tomatoes or tomato paste, paprika, peppers, onions, carrots, smoked meats. Less often, tender dumplings are also placed in it. Bograch is often served with a spoonful of sour cream and fresh herbs.

Bob goulash

This hearty dish will differ from bograch in the presence of beans, and often in the absence of some ingredients. For example, potatoes (instead, the already mentioned dumplings, called chipettes, may be found). It is served with the same sour cream, and at first glance it may resemble borscht (like bograch).

Soups with porcini mushrooms

Porcini mushrooms are a real seasonal “vegetable” for most Transcarpathians. People search for mushrooms en masse in the mountains, sell them on the highways in all forms (fresh, pickled and dried), and hand them over to procurement companies. It is not surprising that in the cuisine of this region it is porcini mushrooms that occupy a place of honor.

If you order soup with porcini mushrooms, it can cost very little - only 10-15 hryvnia (35-50 rubles). Such soups often do not even contain potatoes - only two types of mushrooms (fresh and dried), thin homemade noodles, and traditional onions and carrots. But the dish turns out very rich and tasty.

But buying mushrooms on the highway will be much more expensive. A small bag of dried mushrooms here costs 40 hryvnia (about 130-140 rubles), and a three-liter jar costs 110 hryvnia (more than 350 rubles). Well, for a bunch of fresh ones (about 8 large mushrooms) they will ask for 60 hryvnia (or 200 rubles).

Meat dishes with cheese - ribs, chops

On the kolyba menu you can see dishes such as “meat in Transcarpathian style”, “in Hutsul style”, “in Poloninsky style” or “in Romanian style”. Such meat costs 30-40 hryvnia (up to 100-140 rubles), but in fact it may turn out that in addition to the actual two pieces of chop or several ribs, they didn’t forget to put potatoes and salad on your plate.

Want some local flavor? Order the meat with feta cheese (local sheep cheese). Bryndza can be served in different ways: grate it on a still hot chop so that it melts, or put it in a heap on a plate. It tastes salty and is somewhat reminiscent of the familiar Parmesan cheese.

Strong alcohol

If you come across the brand “ Chizay"("Chizay"), don't deny yourself to try it wine. It is local, made in the Transcarpathian region. And, although it is inexpensive, it has earned many awards (in particular, it “took gold” in St. Petersburg and Yalta).

However, if there is a choice between such wine and local blueberry or lingonberry tincture(blueberries are called Yafinyanka here), choose the latter! The liqueurs are very sweet, so girls will definitely like them, but you shouldn’t order too much of them - they’ll knock you off your feet. But for male tourists who prefer something more substantial, they will take slivyanka– vodka with plum flavor. But remember: it is 50-degree strength!

If you are going to go around Transcarpathia, moving along the highway running along the border with Romania, do not fly past the villages! Many winemakers live here and sell their wine. Home wine It turns out very strong (this is noted not only by ladies, but also by many men), and also smells intensely of grapes. In general, it will be inexpensive (20-40 hryvnia, that is, 70-140 rubles), but an interesting gift for relatives, or a purchase for yourself.

Blueberry pancakes

Another “strategic product” of the region can be called blueberries. So, when you order a dessert with these berries in a local restaurant, you can be sure that you will not get Danone from the store, but real Carpathian berries, fresh and environmentally friendly.

A short dictionary of what is in the Carpathians, but called differently.

Carpathian names.

Hutsul.

Hutsuls- one of the three peoples living exclusively in the Carpathians. The other two are strikers and straps. They are part of the “Rusyns” ethnic group, which is sometimes classified, sometimes not classified as ethnic Ukrainians. In Ukraine, Hutsuls live in the Transcarpathian and Ivano-Frankivsk regions. The Hutsul dialect is similar to the Ukrainian language, but sounds slightly different due to mixing with the neighboring Hungarian language.

Polonina.

Just like on the Turkish yaylas, livestock are grazed on the meadows in the summer. Traditionally, this word refers to meadows located above the forest line. But this is the name of any large meadow in the Carpathians. The main thing is that it is relatively flat in order to graze cattle there.

It is worth noting that meadow– the name is purely Carpathian, and is not found in other mountains.

Smereka.

Carpathian name for European spruce. In the Ukrainian Carpathians it is distributed almost everywhere. The higher the mountains, the denser the Smerek forests. Smereki can reach one and a half meters in diameter and forty to fifty meters in height.

For the local population, Smereka is the main source of profit. They build houses from it, make musical instruments (see Trembita), make medicines, and extract a bunch of useful substances from resin to vitamin C.

Zherep.

Local name for alpine pine. Despite the proud name, this plant rarely grows above 3 meters and is a bush similar to the top of a Scots pine, which is sold for the New Year under the guise of a Christmas tree. The age of individual trees exceeds a thousand years, so cutting down zherep strictly prohibited.

The speed of movement through the thickets of alpine pine is a little more than 0 km/h: elastic branches easily tear the tourist things they cling to, and the roots trip you up at almost every step. Therefore, among tourists, the word “zherep” usually causes nervous trembling and panic in the ranks.

Kolyba.

The second name is “flock”. Usually this word in the Carpathians refers to a shepherd’s house, most often located near a meadow. The most suitable synonym for kolyba is “summer house”: in winter no one lives there. Nevertheless, kolyba- a well-built house from Smereka. Most often it has several rooms: for work (cheese and cheese making) and for sleeping. There are almost never stoves in the kolbs; they are replaced by holes in the ceiling, under which you can make a fire. There are windows, but most often they are simply caulked or simply covered with boards: glass in the mountains is more difficult to obtain than wood. In general, the kolyba is an ideal workplace for shepherds. And sometimes it is an excellent shelter from bad weather for tourists.

Interesting paradox: kolyba with the inscription "Kolyba" does not exist. If you see such a sign, it’s just a cafe or hotel that has nothing in common with the real kolyba.

Trembita.

Trembita- Hutsul wind instrument. It is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest in the world: individual specimens reach 8 meters. It is a long pipe from Smereka, narrow at one end. It is believed that the best smereka for making trembita is the one struck by lightning.
In the old days, trembits completely replaced mobile phones: they served as a way of communication between Hutsuls located in different meadows. Sound trembita marked the beginning and end of the shepherd's day; from it one could understand where the shepherd was and how the process of grazing livestock was going. Trembita could be used to report sudden danger.

With the advent of modern communications, almost all the functions mentioned above have been lost. Now trembita– more of a musical instrument for authentic ensembles. There are also fewer craftsmen making trembitas, and now you can increasingly see metal trembitas.

Bartka.

Hutsul ax. It differs from a regular ax in a longer ax and a smaller blade. Very often, both the ax and the ax handle are decorated with folk ornaments.

Hutsulskaya bartka in the old days, it was primarily a serious weapon: it was a light ax with a shaft of medium length. With a bartka it was convenient to both defend and attack, a sort of Hutsul tomahawk.

Over time, the bartka evolved into a more ethnic item: the shaft lengthened, and various ornaments appeared. As a result, the ax began to serve more for defense, and also serve as a cane when walking in the Carpathians.

Now bartka It first became an attribute of men's clothing in Hutsul culture, and then completely moved into the category of souvenirs.

Hutsul dairy products.

The process of making cheeses and feta cheeses in kolybas is an extremely complex and exciting activity. Be sure to ask the shepherds about how everything is done. We will describe the main products produced by shepherds.

The first product emerging from sour milk is budz.

Budz It looks like cheese and tastes like dried cheese. It is made from clots of cheese formed in curdled milk and then dried in the sun. A distinctive feature is the crust: like bread, it is hard and brown.

Brynza (brindza, Ukrainian) - a secondary product obtained from budza. Carpathian cheese is very different from what is sold on the market: it is budz, ground with butter and salt. Bryndza is rolled into jars and stored in the refrigerator. The taste really resembles feta cheese, but it looks like cottage cheese, you have to eat it with a spoon.

Vurda- another secondary product. It is brewed from the whey remaining after the formation of budza. This is a very delicate type of cheese that literally melts in your mouth. It has a sweetish taste (although, at the customer’s request, the vurda can be salted). It looks very much like cheese - regular cheese, not Carpathian cheese.

It is worth mentioning separately banoshe- national Hutsul dish. For some reason, many people compare banosh with mamaliga, although they have only one thing in common: corn flour. This flour is poured into boiling cream when it begins to form butter. If desired, the banosh is topped with mushrooms, cracklings and grated cheese - but under no circumstances should they be mixed with porridge. Hutsul banosh is a very filling dish; it is unlikely that anyone will be able to eat more than one ladle.

In our descriptions of routes and reports on hikes in the Carpathians, the word “kolyba” is very often used, which may not be entirely clear to residents of Russia, Belarus and other countries.

Kolyba is a shepherd's dwelling in the meadow, which is intended for caring for livestock during the warm season. There are also lumberjack camps, but now there are almost none left, because the management style in the logging industry has completely changed.

Today travelers usually call any structures located in the mountains kolyba. However, everything is not so simple; they all differ in construction style and purpose. Let's try to figure out what we often see on our hikes in the Carpathians, and why it was built there by the Hutsuls.

So, the “kolyba” itself is a one-room wooden hut, without windows, designed to accommodate from 2 to 8 shepherds. There is no floor and no stove. In the center of the hut there is a place for a fire - “vatra”. Along the walls there are wooden beds and shelves for things. Smoke comes out of the hut through a special hole in the roof. Such kolybas are usually rectangular in shape, with a gable wooden roof covered with shingles. The lumberjacks' hulls are very interesting - they are round in shape and somewhat reminiscent of a wigwam or yurt. However, now almost no such kolybas have survived.

Among other buildings that occur on hikes in the Carpathians, “flocks” are very important. Real, ancient flocks also had no floor or windows, but consisted of several rooms. One where there was a place for a fire - “vaternyk”, and several storage or utility rooms.

Over time, such buildings were transformed into “zamarkas” and various cheese factories, which more closely resembled a residential hut. They had a floor, a stove, not a place for a fire, windows, a roof with an attic - where the chimney often goes out for additional heating of the room and smoking cheese. Once upon a time, kolls and flocks were built very low. Their walls did not exceed a meter. Later and modern Poloninsky buildings are much taller.

Hutsul shepherds are very undemanding when it comes to living conditions, and very often live in the meadows almost under the sky, in small “stays” that are built from spruce branches.

Such Poloninsky buildings are used by shepherds from May to September, and for the rest of the year they are simply empty, awaiting the return of their owners. It is then that the kolbs become our refuges. Hiking in the Carpathians in winter is sometimes quite difficult if there are no such huts along the route. And although at first glance they are very spartan, they warm you up very well on cold winter nights in the Carpathians and save you from snowstorms and frost.

During prolonged rains, kolybas often provide an opportunity to dry out and take a break from the vagaries of the weather. Therefore, our hikes in the Carpathians during the cold season are designed so that every night is spent in just such a hut. Therefore, you should not be afraid of winter hikes in the Carpathians with our active recreation club.

Unfortunately, over time, many of these kolybas are now in poor condition and continue to deteriorate. Therefore, it is necessary to treat these buildings very carefully, follow fire safety rules when lighting a fire, and not litter or destroy these cozy shelters among the wild nature of the Carpathians.

The good news is that today voluntary organizations have appeared that are trying to repair such structures with their own resources and resources, and adapt them as much as possible to the needs of travelers. This is in particular the organization “stitches of the Carpathians”. Therefore, everyone who is not indifferent to the old Hutsul heritage can take part in voluntary projects to revive mountain shelters, mark tourist routes and clear garbage from sites. (jcomments on)

In Galicia and Bukovina (Ukrainian Carpathians) in the summer, shepherds graze their herds in the mountains. About the same as they do in the Caucasus. Going to the mountains for several months and living in wooden log houses - kolybas (in the Caucasus this is called “kosh” if I’m not mistaken). In January I was lucky enough to visit the Carpathians and see several kolybas. Actually, these “huts” will be discussed.

Throughout the warm season, shepherds graze their flocks on polonynas (plateaus). And at this time they live in kolybas. The kolyba can be with a stove, or it can be the so-called “kurinna hut” (Ukrainian - kurinna hut), a log house with a fireplace.

In the winter of this year, on hiking routes in the Carpathians (Gorgansky ridge), I was lucky to visit several. With the onset of cold weather, shepherds drive their herds (flocks) to the villages and the kolybs remain empty. Sometimes tourists spend the night in them. But for the most part, owners do not like uninvited guests, since some of them do not behave quite like a normal person (they litter, break parts of log houses for firewood, etc.). Therefore, barn locks and boarded up windows are not uncommon.

So, the first place I had a chance to visit was a completely new (rebuilt literally last summer) kolyba:

It consists of two log cabins, one with bunks for sleeping. With a table and carefully filled cracks. And the second, as the cheese factory employee explained to me, has a fireplace in the middle and is three times larger than the first. Shepherds milk sheep and make cheese. Fellow villagers periodically come up to them, bring the missing provisions and take away the cheese (brynza).

We spent the night in the second, residential kolyb. Photo:

A few hundred meters away on the saddle there is a small log-church (in Ukrainian - chapel). In the middle there is an icon, and outside there is a fence of animals:

Inside there are bunks for sleeping and a fireplace with a beam for hanging the boiler:

Pay attention to the log chair. This piece of furniture amused me. Another photo of the “kitchen”:

Here, there is an icon hanging at the door (as I understand it, a mandatory attribute of all kolybas), and on the outside of the entrance doors there is an inscription in chalk: “Who is behind the eggs? Chuli!!!" (Ukrainian - “Whoever comes close, we’ll tear off his balls, we heard!”).

Nearby there are several more buildings for animals, tools, and maybe for storing things for the winter:

The next hut was closed, only the attic was open. But it was a solid hut, with enough space in the attic for several tents. But probably the local shepherds were so fed up with uninvited guests that the doors and windows here were tightly boarded up.

The next kolyba was already in the valley. Small, a little untidy, with a net for drying berries and mushrooms over the fireplace:

As my comrades told me, periodically in the middle of winter, shepherds get up to check if everything is fine with their log houses.

It is interesting that many tourists believe that a “kolyba” is a restaurant, or a rural house (analogous to a Russian hut). Without even knowing what this word originally means.