Karlovarské trojhránky

Appearance & taste

Trojhránky are triangular pieces made of eight wafers stacked on top of one another with a cocoa or chocolate filling in between. Each of the round, flat wafers is about 19 cm in diameter and consists of two thin dough sheets with a typical relief: at the outer edge it bears a 30 mm wide sprig of leaves, and below it, in a circle, the inscription “Karlovarské oplatky”. In the centre the wafer shows a symbol of the spa town of Karlovy Vary, a fountain as an emblem of the bubbling healing water, or a chamois.

The specification describes the wafers as crumbly, light and delicate, with a special taste and aroma. The product name “Karlovarské trojhránky” must be clearly visible on the front of the product or its packaging.

Production

For the wafer dough, wheat flour, vegetable fat, sugar, egg mixture, starch, baking powder and butter are mixed with fresh Karlovy Vary mineral healing water. After baking, the dough sheets are moistened with the healing water, and two sheets at a time are baked together with a sprinkling of sugar and nuts; depending on the variety, almonds, cocoa, vanilla or cinnamon go into the sprinkling instead of the nuts.

The filling is stirred until creamy from pieces of chocolate, hardened vegetable fat, milk powder, cocoa, sugar, soya powder and crushed baked wafers; the broken wafers make up 7 % of the filling. Eight coated wafers are stacked on top of one another, pressed together, trimmed at the edge and divided into eight pieces with a cutting machine. They are packed individually or in boxes of 150 g or 200 g. At least the making, storing and baking together of the wafers must take place in the area.

Origin & history

The area is the spa town of Karlovy Vary. According to the specification, the mineral healing water used there is a natural water containing hydrogen carbonate, sulphur and chloride that rises to the surface at 73 °C from a depth of more than 800 m. It is said to give the wafers their crumbliness and their special aroma and taste.

According to the specification, the first records of Karlovy Vary wafers being made in the area date from the middle of the 18th century; Trojhránky continue this tradition. The town administration of Karlovy Vary and the organisation Czech Tourism use them to present the town and the country; in 2005 they were shown at the EU-Japan Food Festival in Edinburgh. On 11 February 2000 the name was entered in the Czech register of designations of origin, and on 29 May 2001 in the international register of the Lisbon Agreement.