Žigljen cheese, produced on Pag Island  has  received an important international award – it is selected among the best cheese in the world, winning the ‘super gold medal’ at the World Cheese Awards 2011 (www.finefoodworld.co.uk/wca)

The winning hard cheese, produces in Gligor’s dairy on Pag, is made entirely from locally sourced sheep and cow milk.

It takes three to six months for Žigljen to fully mature and finally achieve its spicey, characteristic aroma.

This year`s  World Cheese Award gathered over 2500 cheese producers from 30 countries, judged by jury of 200.

Gligora dairy (Sirana Gligora)  homepage:  www.sirena.hr

A new salt museum was recently opened as addition to Nin salt evaporation pond .

The museum offers a complete insight into the extraction of salt, which follows the same tradition as in Roman times.

The sea water naturally falls through the pools of the ponds where it evaporates with the help of sun and wind and eventually crystallizes into pure natural sea salt.

Nin’s Salt Evaporation Pond dates back from Roman times and covers  about 55 acres of Nin bay where locals are still producing a wide range salt products such as industrial and therapeutic salt.

Due to traditional production, unpolluted sea water and specific environment conditions including the number of sunny hours per year, salt from Nin is of a very high quality.

Have a look at the short video about Solana Nin:

More info @ Nin Tourist Board: www.nin.hr

All the wine varieties that were awarded a gold medal come from continental Croatia and the small vineyard Bodren from Hum na Sutli in Hrvatsko Zagorje was particularly successful. It produces exceptional sweet predicate wines. Four of their wines have won the gold medal (Château Bezanec Chardonnay, Cóuve and Rajnski rizling from 2007 and Pinot Sivi 2006).

Krauthaker Wines won two gold medals for his Graševina wine 2007 and Zelenac Kutjevo 2007, and Badel 1862 and its Graševina Daruvar 2007 and Ilocki Podrumi with the sweet Traminac 2006 won one gold medal each.

Angela Muir, President of the Prize-Awarding Committee for Central and Eastern European Wines, who has been in love with enology for 38 years, said that Croatia with its top quality white wines, dry and dessert ones, and an entire range of wine sorts with various characters and styles, is the biggest discovery of this year’s competition. “This really puts Croatia on the wine map. If you like sweet white wines, you would be crazy not to try them. Croatia can now truly take its place as a serious player in the world of wines”, said Decanter Director Adam Lechemere.

Decanter (www.decanter.com) is a form of bible in the world of wine experts and fans and the competition it organizes is the biggest and the most respectable one in the world. This year’s competition was the sixth in a row.