MMM STORIES: STRLE FARM

We have special memories of milk and dairy products. Many of us (at least on some holidays) have experienced that authentic taste of home-made milk from a bucket, perhaps even back in the carefree days when milk was sold in sachets. Before it was fashionable, we learned about fermentation processes with our grandmothers, and dipped porridge and potatoes into our home-made sour milk. Delicious yoghurts, especially the first fruity ones, drew moustaches on our youthful faces from early on, but ice cream, oh ice cream – the love for it deserves a chapter of its own. From the first Lučka and Ježek ice creams, sliced Planica with a cardboard wrapper, to family walks to the local ice-cream maker as a reward at the end of the school year, to the (in theory) brilliant idea of biting off the cone at the bottom end and waiting for the ice-cream to melt through the hole (at least up to your elbows)... Oh yes, we love milk. And yoghurt. And cottage cheese. And ice cream...

Milk from the Pozaršek-Strle farm

On the Pozaršek-Strle farm, which has stood on the outskirts of the Ljubljana Marshes on Ižanska cesta for well over a century, everything begins and ends with milk. One of the first dairy farms in these parts, it has been delighting visitors at local markets and local shops for the past sixty years with fresh and sour milk, set and liquid yoghurt in a wide variety of flavours, cottage cheese, whey, butter, sweet, sour and processed cream, salted and fresh kaymak, white cheese and other dairy products, all produced according to local recipes and in a (certifiable) sustainable way. The respectable tradition is preserved by the owners, Zdenka and Marko, and increasingly by their sons Matej and Simon, who share the tasks related to livestock breeding, agriculture and dairy farming. Regular customers frequently return to their sales outlets – the most well-known are the ones at Ljubljana’s central market and the covered market in BTC – or opt for a stop at the local shop along Ižanska cesta, where the family supplements its wide range of dairy products with seasonal produce from local and surrounding farms.

The Strle ice cream

In 2016, on the initiative of Špela Omahen, a (now former) daughter-in-law on the farm, ice cream was added to the range of homemade products. Original flavours, initially made in a ridiculously small ice-cream maker at home, bearing the names of the key (and possible future) operators on the farm – “Buhtl Matej” with dark chocolate and hazelnuts, “Landlady Zdenka” with fresh kaymak and raspberry jam, “Landlord Marko” with natural yoghurt and apricot jam, “Cottage Cheese Simon” with milk chocolate and brownie, and “Mila and Lenart” with vanilla and strawberry – are still best sellers today, although later Špela added many more classic and also less classicflavours to the range: from hazelnut, strlecciatella, almond cake, tarragon, to vegan pear, mango, chocolate with green cardamom and cherries...

Handmade and packaged in colourful biodegradable containers, the range of ice creams is as natural and homemade as possible. The raw materials from the family farm are complemented by carefully selected ingredients of controlled origin with the least possible negative impact on the environment. The fruit jams are homemade, the honey used as sweetener is produced by the bees of the Ovce beekeeper in nearby Črna vas, the nut pastes are provided by the Rok’s nut butter company in Domžale, and even when it comes to pistachios and more exotic ingredients, quality and the shortest possible journey to the Ljubljana Marshes are the cornerstones of the choice.

Her excellent taste, homeliness and playfulness have spread the word about Špela’s creativity far and wide, even among the biggest names. One of the first and still very important ice cream customers was Darja Končarevič, who still serves The Strle Ice Cream by the scoop at the Bazilika café next to the Ljubljana Križanke. In the summer months, you can also get a scoop or two at the Ljubljana Chocolate Factory in the Old Town, but otherwise the ice creams (in addition to the established Pozaršek-Strle farm outlets) are mainly available in shops such as Rifuzl, Hruška and Zrno do zrna in Ljubljana, Zlata ptička in Kamnik, and similar shops in Žalec, Koper, Radovljica, Gozd Martuljek, Bled, and many more. A few years ago, as part of a special project for the Tuš supermarket chain, the one and only Ana Roš asked Špela to help her prepare ice creams according to her recipes, and they are still working together successfully at her JAZ bistro in Ljubljana.

It all begins and continues with milk

Times change and who knows what the future may bring, but respect for tradition and creative flirtation with new trends will ensure that milk and dairy products from the Pozaršek-Strle farm will always find a place on our tables and in our hearts, whether it’s a sip of yoghurt before the start of a busy weekday, a generous spoonful of kaymak with čevapčiči at a home picnic, a cup of ice cream with an evening movie, ice cream on a stick for the little ones or one of Špela’s upcoming and undoubtedly delicious innovations, such as ice cream sandwiches, baked ice cream and ice cream banana breads.