Hrvatsko Zagorje (meaning Croatian upland or hinterland) is a historic region north of Croatian capital city Zagreb. It comprises the whole area north of Medvednica mountain up to Slovenia in the north and west, and up to the regions of Medimurje and Podravina in the north and east. Zagorje was split into Krapina-Zagorje county and a part of Varaždin county after the establishment of the independent Republic of Croatia. Croatian people usually refer to this region as “Zagorje”. However, due to another region in Slovenia, which bears the same name, the Croatian part is also called “Hrvatsko Zagorje” (meaning Croatian Hinterland). If one also considers linguistic and other factors, the Croatian capital of Zagreb could also be included as part of this region.
The gastronomic description of this region begins with bread, in this part of Croatia most often made from corn, barley or a mixture of these flours. Many of the cakes are also very similar to the bread with the addition of other components (“kukuružnjaca” - made with corn, “orahnjaca” - with walnuts, "makovnjaca" - with poppy seeds, and so on). Many of the meals include pasta, dairy products (mainly cow's milk) as well as an abundance of vegetables (e.g. potatoes, cabbage, beans...) and various combination of these with meat. Some examples include combinations such as; beans with sour kraut, beans with barley or in other combinations with green peas, courgettes and so on. This region is one of the rare ones that has, even nowadays preserved the preparation of food provisions for the winter in a traditional manner; the pickling of cabbage (sour kraut), cucumbers cooked in vinegar, pickling of peppers, beets, plum jam, rose hip jam, bottled fruitsi and the like. The region is probably most famous for it's cakes and in particular it's strudels. Pumpkin cake (called “bucnica”) with poppy seeds and the “Zagorski štrukli” are also very popular.
