Túró Rudi

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A Túró Rudi bar

A Túró Rudi broken in half

Túró Rudi is the name of a chocolate bar popular in Hungary. The bar is composed of a thin outer coating of chocolate and an inner filling of túró. The "Rudi" in the product name comes from the Hungarian "rúd", which translates to bar. It is also a nickname for "Rudolf" (English Rudolph).

The basic (plain, "natúr") bar is by far the most popular amongst Hungarians and comes in 2 sizes: the classic 30 gram bar and the larger ("óriás", English translation: giant) 51 gram bar. There are also less popular differently flavoured varieties of the bar. While these are not central to the Túró Rudi concept, they can provide a good introduction to the product for foreigners to whom the taste of the bar can at first prove quite strange. For a traveler without previous experience, mixing chocolate with curd may seem somewhat bizarre.

The "pöttyös" (spotty or spotted) theme is part of the marketing scheme of the bar, and the distinctive red polka-dots are readily associated with Túró Rudi by regular consumers. Friesland Hungária, Inc. (which claims to be the manufacturer of the "original" Túró Rudi) released its product in Slovakia, Romania, Spain and Italy under the name DOTS in 2003. The version sold in Western Europe is said to be sweeter and comes with a milk chocolate coating to suit the taste of locals.

The bar is best kept refrigerated at 4 degrees Celsius. The regular 31 gram bar and the Óriás bar usually retail for about 70 Hungarian forints (about 24 euro cents) and 100 Hungarian forints (about 40 euro cents), respectively.