History in the making: The record-breaking trdelník is prepared in Skalica. (source: R. Minarechová)
BREAKING world records can be considered a kind of sport in many countries around the world, and that certainly includes Slovakia. Attempts to reach new milestones have been a traditional aspect of Trdlofest, a festival celebrating wine and trdelník, a traditional Slovak bakery product that originated in the town of Skalica. Bakers at this year’s Trdlofest on May 19 succeeded in breaking their own world record by preparing a trdelník that stretched for 199 centimetres.
“I did not hope [for such a long trdelník]; I thought it would be 195 centimetres but I was happy that we managed it,” Mária Romančíková, a member of the six-person team that baked the record-breaking trdelník, told The Slovak Spectator.
Though trdelníks can be found at nearly all fairs held in Slovakia, the only genuine trdelník is made in Skalica. This traditional, sweet pastry has a hollow, cylindrical shape made from sponge dough topped with sugar and nuts, baked over a charcoal fire on a wooden rod called a trdlo.
The trdelník was Slovakia’s first registered product in 2007 and holds a European PGI.
The first maxi-length trdelník was baked in Skalica in 2005 and since then a team of bakers led by Ľudovít Bránecký, chair of the Skalický trdelník and Vínna cesta Záhorie civic associations seeks to set a new world record each year.
“The most important thing is good dough, good baking and finally good teamwork when pulling the trdlo out,” Bránecký said, when asked how to make an attempt to break a record, adding that if the trdelník is torn into pieces when pulling the trdlo out it will not be measured as one product. So the bakers must be very careful when wrapping the dough on the trdlo, rotating the dough above the fire and then removing the trdlo.
This year’s record-breaking trdelník was confirmed by Jozef Šedivý, the representative of the Slovak Book of Records, who attended the whole preparation and baking process and made the official measurement.
Bránecký told The Slovak Spectator that there is now no other possibility then to attempt to make a trdelník of two metres or longer.
Romančíková added that the traditional trdlo is only about 2.10 metres long and if the record-setters keep on making longer and longer trdelníks they may need to find a longer trdlo.
“We will keep wrapping for as long as it is possible,” Romančíková proudly told The Slovak Spectator.
