Slivovitz is a plum brandy, another name for this alcoholic drink, rakia, widespread in all Balkan countries, as well as Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary. National drink of Serbia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia.
It is the Serbian moonshiners who say: “In the kingdom of alcoholic beverages there are two kings - Scotch whiskey and French cognac, and only one queen - Serbian plum brandy.”
Slivovitz, also known as rakia, is nothing more than plum brandy and its preparation technology is similar to chacha and grappa, only the raw material used is different - fermented plum juice.
The strength of slivovitz after the first distillation is about 45% (at home it reaches 52%), and with double distillation it is approximately 75%. The Czechs prefer triple distillation.
Slivovitz is usually aged for at least 5 years in oak barrels, during which time the drink becomes more refined and rich in taste.
Our land is rich in plums, and the fruits will soon ripen, so making plum brandy at home is possible and even necessary.
We will describe the classic recipe for slivovitz, the main difference of which from most other recipes is the absence of sugar and yeast in the wort - they impoverish the drink in taste and smell, and the alcohol itself is of poorer quality.
Recipe for slivovitz (plum brandy)
The main two ingredients in making the drink are ripe sweet plums and clean water. If the plums were ripened during the rainy season and their sugar content is very low, then it is difficult to do without adding sugar. In this case, sugar must be added carefully, slowly, the amount needed is as small as possible, otherwise the plum wine will turn into a simple fruit mash for moonshine.
So, we will need:
11-12 kg of plum fruits;
8-9 liters of clean water;
sugar (the amount depends on the sweetness of the plums);
2 fermentation tanks.
The cooking technology is not complicated and consists of several main steps:
Preparation of fruits.
Setting up the wort for fermentation.
Fermentation.
Distillation.
Infusion.
Preparing fruits for plum brandy
Any variety of sweet plums is suitable for making plum brandy. The fruits should be collected as late as possible, when the plums become most sugary (optimal sugar content 8-9%).
The plums should be as ripe and juicy as possible, but not wrinkled around the cuttings. We do not collect spoiled or wormy fruits.
There is no need to wash plums, since their surface contains natural yeast cultures, the so-called wild yeast (it is enough to lightly wipe the surface with a thick cloth). The fruits need to be pitted, dividing them into two halves, then crushed or mashed using a meat grinder or masher until smooth. It is also recommended to add 15-20% crushed seeds to the main wort - they will give the drink a bitter almond flavor.
Setting up the wort for fermentation
In a fermentation container, you need to place a pulp of crushed plums. For such containers, you can use buckets and barrels made of food-grade plastic, which are now easy to buy.
If the wort does not seem sweet enough, and here you can be guided by your taste sensations or the readings of a hydrometer (sugar meter), it can be sweetened. Just add 100-200 g of sugar until the optimal sugar content is reached - 8-9%.
The fermentation container must be covered with gauze and sent to a warm place for a day to allow the fermentation process to begin. If everything went as it should, foam will begin to form on the surface. If fermentation has not started after 24 hours, you can try adding a little more sugar and wait 12 hours.
After fermentation begins, the wort must be poured into another fermentation container, a 20-30 liter glass bottle and pure spring or distilled water added. In this case, the container should be filled no more than 4/5 of the total volume, since the wort will actively foam. Mix thoroughly and install a water seal on the neck. Now let's move on to the next stage.
Fermentation of plum wort
The fermentation container with our mash should be placed in a dark place and protected from sunlight and temperature changes. The ideal fermentation temperature is +15°C, but at home you can bring it to the optimal +20...22°C. On average, the wort ferments for 2-4 weeks at +20...22°C, at +15°C - 6-8 weeks.
During fermentation, carbon dioxide is actively released, which “boils” the wort and thereby stirring it (stirring the wort yourself is strictly prohibited). Gases also raise crushed fruits to the surface, forming a foamy “cap”. This “cap” must be removed from the wort before it sinks to the bottom - this will be clearly visible if the container is glass. Plum wort contains many harmful impurities, in particular light acids and fusel oils. After carbon dioxide has ceased to be released from the water seal, you should immediately begin distillation.
Distillation of slivovitz
The wort must be distilled at least twice. To do this, we pour the fermented wort into the distillation cube of the moonshine still and drive it “to dryness,” that is, until there is no more alcohol in the distillate. During the first distillation, you should not cut off the “tails” and “heads,” since they, and especially the “tails,” contain many aromatic fruit substances, the boiling point of which is the same as that of fusel oils. However, the heads can be cut off, but in the Czech Republic they do not use fractional distillation at all.
The second distillation must be carried out with cutting off the “heads” and “tails”, while the raw alcohol obtained after the first distillation should be diluted to 25-35%. More information about the fractional distillation process is described on our website. The second time must also be distilled “to dryness”; the “heads” in the Balkans are used for medicinal purposes; the “tails” can be added to the next distillation. If you follow this recipe, then the heads should be approximately 100-150 ml, the main product - 1-1.5 liters, and the tails - about 200 ml. After double distillation, the strength of slivovitz will be about 55-60%. You can drink it like that, but it’s better to dilute it to the optimal 45%.
You can buy it on our website.
Infusion, ripening of slivovitz
Slivovitz is aged in oak barrels and if you have such an opportunity, be sure to take advantage of it. In Serbia, 100 kg of plums yield an average of 10-11 liters of slivovitz, so you will need quite a few fruits. Give the drink a rest, the more the better. When kept in an oak barrel for a long time, slivovitz acquires a unique aroma and refined taste.
Slivovitz is a strong alcohol made from plums, or more precisely plum juice. It is associated with plum brandy, plum brandy, or simply plum moonshine.
In countries where the drink is rightfully considered national - the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Serbia (and, indeed, all the Balkans) - it is called slivyanka. Here it is widely prepared and loved by the locals. They generously treat tourists with it and even use the drink in folk medicine. They know all the subtleties that distinguish this fruit brandy from simple moonshine (the fermented juice is distilled twice and aged for an average of 5 years (at home - 1 year) in oak barrels).
Slivovitz
Real slivovitz plays yellowish-golden hues in the sun and smells delicious of plums, has a strength of 45-75% and a Serbian euro patent.
Obtaining a patent by Serbia is not entirely fair in relation to other Balkan countries because, for example, in the Czech Republic, alcohol from plums was already produced in full in the 15th century, and in the south of Moravia between the 1st and 2nd World Wars, plums were almost the main food product (alcohol also made only from it).
However, the patent means that since 2007, only Serbia can call plum alcohol “rakia slivovitz”. So, if you come across labels with the same alcohol in a store, be careful and be sure to look at the country of origin and, accordingly, the year the drink was produced.
But to avoid counterfeiting, you can do it easier - prepare the drink yourself. After all, absolutely all Russian-speaking countries are rich in plums. In addition, this is a great way to add fruit in a year when there are too many of them.
Alcohol from plums is prepared at home in different ways, but the best (albeit with a lower yield) is a recipe that does not use sugar or yeast. The recipe you will find below includes sugar, because not all of our plums have such a significant sugar content as the Balkan ones. When adding it, you will regulate the specific amount yourself depending on the sugar content of your plums. If they are sweet enough, just omit this component.
Preparatory stage:
- Working with raw materials
To get good plum alcohol, you need to take the sweetest plums for its base. It is better to collect them at the first frost, which makes the fruits more sugary. But you can do this as the plums ripen. It is very good if the fruits are overripe. Damaged, wormy, wrinkled, rotten or moldy plums should not be used.
The harvest is harvested in dry weather, as it is important that there are live fruit yeasts on the surface of the fruit (they are not visible!).
- Cooking utensils
In the old days, fermentation containers were made of wood, but now this is an unaffordable (and unnecessary) luxury. Therefore, plastic barrels or glass containers may well become a fermentation tank.
And one more point: an incredible variety of microorganisms live on the surface of any objects, including hands, which, during the preparation of plum brandy, end up in the fermentation container. When there is not much of it, fruit yeast is able to multiply, which means turning the pulp into wine. When there are too many microorganisms, your plum mass may not ferment, turn sour, or become moldy.
Therefore, try to wash all dishes and equipment as thoroughly as possible. But if, despite this, you see that the process is not going as it should, then change tactics and prepare moonshine from plums, which, by the way, is also quite good.
Homemade plum brandy, recipe
Prepare:
- plum (fruit) – 11 kilos
- granulated sugar - if necessary
- water – 8 liters
You need to prepare it like this:
- Processing of plums.
Selected fruits (without washing them!) are cut up, removing (and discarding) the seeds. Sometimes this point is ignored, but the seeds will change the taste of the drink, adding bitterness. Although a few accidentally slipped seeds will only give the drink a slight almond flavor. And yet, try not to let the seeds get into the pulp, since then we need to turn our mass into puree. A meat grinder, a blender, and even a drill are suitable here.
- Preparation of wort.
Try the resulting puree. If you don’t feel the sweetness, add sugar, adding 100 grams at a time, stirring and tasting after each approach until you feel that the wort has a slightly sweet taste.
If you have the opportunity to measure the sugar content of the wort, then know that its optimal value is 8-9%.
Tie the top of the container with gauze and place it in a warm place. After a day, foam should appear on the surface of the puree - a sign that fermentation has begun. In its absence, add a few more portions of granulated sugar to the mass and keep it warm for another night. At this stage, it is already clear whether your drink will be a success or whether you need to add yeast to it (so as not to spoil the product completely) and turn the wine preparation into mash.
If everything goes according to plan (fermentation has begun), pour water (slightly warm - 25 - 28 0 C) into the container and stir. Now the container needs to be sealed with a lid with a water seal. Other options are also suitable - using a homemade water seal instead of the original one, a rubber glove with a puncture in one of the fingers, etc.
This will become the basis of our distillate. To obtain it, place the container with the diluted puree in a warm place where there will be no access to light. Usually within 2-4 weeks (sometimes 8 weeks) a thick layer of sediment falls to the bottom of the container, and the “gurgling” of the water seal stops.
There is no need to open the container and remove the “cap”. Although sometimes, before it settles to the bottom, this is done (due to the content of harmful acids in the “cap”).
- Distillation.
Having separated the resulting wine and sediment, it is distilled on a moonshine still, separating the first and last fractions (“heads” and “tails”) from the main distillate. The distillation process (with separation of fractions) must be carried out twice, since if we clean this moonshine from fusel oils in other ways, our drink will lose its unique aroma. Therefore, we dilute all the resulting alcohol to 25-35% and distill it a second time. The distillation process in each case will take 2.5 – 3 hours.
During the entire distillation you will get approx. 100-150 ml of “heads”, 200 ml of “tails” and a strong (50% alcohol or higher) distillate, which is diluted to 45% strength. You should end up with about 1 liter (or a little more).
- Excerpt.
Although slivovitz is already ready after distillation, still try to infuse it, if not in oak barrels, then on specially prepared oak chips (pegs). You can age alcohol from 6 months to 5 years, but at home, 1 year of aging is optimal.
If you don’t even have pegs, then just let the drink sit for 1-2 months - the “rest” will only benefit it.
Plum brandy is stored in different ways, but preferably in a dark place. Residents of Moravia, for example, bury bottles in the garden, digging them up as needed. You can use the basement, cellar or section of a regular bar in your home.
Drinking slivovitz before meals - for appetite - from small glasses in one gulp. People usually start having a snack only after the second glass. It is not recommended to mix it with soft drinks due to the appearance of nasty metallic notes in the aftertaste. As for alcoholic ones, you can try mixing them only with Midori melon liqueur.
Plum moonshine is the same plum drink, only made not from wine, but from plum mash:
Prepare:
- plums – 12 kilos
- granulated sugar – 1.5 kilos
- water – 8-10 l.
- yeast – 100 gr. pressed (or 20 grams dry).
You need to prepare it like this:
- Remove the seeds from the plums and turn the pulp into puree.
- Add granulated sugar and yeast diluted in warm water into the plum mass.
- Dilute the mixture with water (8-10 l), so that it becomes liquid, stir and, having installed a water seal, place it in heat (without access to light).
- After 1-2 weeks, fermentation will be completed and the mash will have to be drained, leaving a layer of sediment at the bottom.
- Perform the distillation twice, merging the “heads” and “tails”.
No type of store-bought alcohol compares to homemade alcohol. After all, homemade tinctures are prepared with love and exclusively from natural products. One of the most delicious and aromatic homemade alcoholic drinks is slivyanka (plum tincture). How to make slivyanka without vodka and with vodka?
Ingredients
Plum 1 kg Sugar 300 grams Vodka 500 milliliters
- Number of servings: 1
- Cooking time: 1 minute
Slivyanka recipe with vodka
The easiest way to prepare slivyanka is with the addition of vodka. You can put various additives in it, for example, mint or cinnamon. But let's look at the classic, basic recipe for this drink.
Ingredients:
- 1 kg plums of any type;
- 300 g sugar;
- 500 ml vodka.
First of all, prepare the plums: wash them, remove the seeds, cut them into small cubes. Place the raw materials in a bottle, fill with vodka, cover with a lid and put in a dark place for a month.
After the specified time, drain the workpiece through cheesecloth. Leave the cream in the bottle, add sugar, cover, shake and leave for another week. After this, drain the resulting syrup, place the plums in cheesecloth and squeeze well. Combine the 2 pieces, cover with a lid and let brew for another 1 month. If you want the drink to be light rather than dark, additionally pass it through cotton wool.
Slivyanka at home without vodka
This recipe will make a strong and sweet plum wine. Strength is achieved solely through natural fermentation.
Ingredients:
- 6 kg plums, pitted;
- 2.8 kg sugar;
- 3 glasses of clean water.
Place plums, sugar, cut into several pieces, into a large container, add water and mix all ingredients thoroughly. Tie the neck of the container with gauze and put it in a warm place for a couple of days. Make sure that the room temperature is around 18-25°C.
As soon as foam and bubbles appear on the surface of the liquid, put a regular rubber glove on the bottle and make a hole in one finger.
The tincture will take 20-30 days to prepare. Once the glove is deflated, the fermentation process is complete. After this, you need to filter the drink using gauze and cotton wool. Pour the resulting plum into bottles and store in a cool and dark place for 2 months. After this time, you can taste the delicious aromatic drink.
Do not throw away the plums left after preparing the tincture. They can be used as mash for moonshine. In addition, the plums left over from the alcohol tincture can be dried and served as an unusual dessert. Of course, such a dessert is only suitable for adults, not children.
If you were on holiday in one of the Balkan countries, Turkey, Bulgaria or Seria, you probably had the opportunity to taste a strong local fruit drink called Rakia. Rakia is made from anise and grapes, apples and other fruits and berries, but in the classic recipe the main ingredient is plum. The recipe for homemade plum brandy is very simple - plums and plain water.
The preparation of slivovitz can be divided into several main stages: preparation of the fruit, preparation of the wort, fermentation and distillation.
You can take plums of any sweet variety, preferably well-ripe ones. If you collected plums on your own site, you don’t have to wash them; it’s best to wipe purchased ones with a paper towel. You can even use overripe, burst fruits, but it is better to throw away rotten and spoiled ones.
The classic recipe for plum vodka is fruit juice with pulp and water, but if the plum is not very sweet, you can add a little sugar.
Divide the selected fruits into two halves and remove the seeds. Since the quantity is quite large, it is better to grind the plums using a regular meat grinder. For small quantities you can use a blender. From the resulting thick puree you need to prepare wort - a starter for fermentation.
The wort for homemade plum brandy should be covered with gauze and placed in a warm place for fermentation to begin. After about a day, the first foam should appear on the surface; if this does not happen, you can add a little sugar. Don't add too much, otherwise you'll get regular fruit moonshine instead of slivovitz vodka.As soon as the entire surface is covered with foam, pour the wort into a suitable container with a water seal - this can be a large glass jar or a milk can. Pour in the required amount of water, mix and place in a dark, warm place. Before you make slivovitz, you need to prepare the mash. Depending on the sweetness of the berries, fermentation can last 2-3 weeks. As soon as gas bubbles stop actively escaping, the mash will need to be filtered and it will be ready for distillation.
Using gauze folded in several layers, carefully separate the cake. Before you prepare slivovitz, you should learn all the intricacies of distillation, especially if you are doing this for the first time.
You need to pour the prepared mash into the evaporation container - the liquid should occupy no more than two-thirds of the volume. If the container is designed for 20 liters, then there should be no more than 13 liters of mash in it. Place the distiller on top and close the lid well. Connect the cooling hoses for draining and supplying water, and place the device on the stove on a heat source - a gas stove or electric oven.
Please note that to prepare a high-quality alcoholic drink, distillation must be carried out twice. Repeated distillation is fractional - the mash will need to be diluted to a strength of no more than 40 degrees - use an alcohol meter to measure. After that, the resulting liquid as a result of distillation will need to be divided into three fractions: “head”, “food” and “tail”.
After the first drops of the long-awaited drink flow, the heat supply must be reduced. Remember that the first fraction is life-threatening - the poison must come out slowly. The head fraction occupies approximately 10% of the total volume - for 10 liters of mash it will be approximately 100 grams.
When the foreign smell goes away, you can substitute a jar to collect the vodka. At this stage, you need to increase the heat slightly so that the liquid flows in a thin stream, the thickness of a needle. Add slivovitz until the liquid stops burning - checking this is very simple, just wet a piece of paper and light it. Combustion stops at approximately 35-37 degrees - the selection of vodka can be completed. The remains can be poured out or left for later use - they can be added to the mash to prepare the next portion.
Slivovitz at home will be ready for consumption immediately after distillation. The drink turns out to be quite strong, so it is best to drink it by diluting it with cold water with ice and a slice of lemon.
If you have an oak barrel and want to taste the taste of real original slivovitz, stop the throat and put it in the cellar to infuse for 5 years. Classic plum rakia is clear yellow in color and has an ABV of 52%. Freshly prepared plum vodka is a clear liquid with a pleasant plum aroma.
Slivovitz is considered the national alcohol of the Balkan countries (Croatia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia) and the Czech Republic. There they treat tourists with this drink, drink it themselves for any occasion, and even treat some diseases. Plums grow well in most regions of Russia, so anyone can prepare plum brandy at home. I recommend using the classic recipe, since modifications, including the addition of baker's dry or compressed yeast, turn the unique-tasting alcohol into regular moonshine.
Slivovitz (Rakia) is a strong alcoholic drink (45-75%), belonging to the class of fruit brandy, obtained by double distillation of fermented plum juice followed by aging in oak barrels. Aging for 5 years is considered optimal; this time is enough for the brandy to acquire a characteristic taste with notes of plums and a yellow color. Homemade slivovitz is rarely aged for more than a year, which is why it is usually clear or light yellow.
In 2007, Serbia received a European patent for the exclusive production of a drink called “Serbian brandy slivovitz” in its geographical region. Now rakia, like cognac and champagne, is protected by EU legislation. This means that only companies located in Serbia have the right to sell alcohol with this name.
Slivovitz (rakia) recipe
In the classic version, nothing else is used except drains and water. But during the rainy season, when the sweetness of the fruit is not high enough, sugar has to be added to maintain fermentation. Remember, the more sugar, the less the resulting drink will resemble the classic version, turning into a banal moonshine made from plums.
Ingredients:
- plum fruits (any variety is suitable, for example Hungarian, Renclod, Altana, egg, Mirabelle) - 11 kg;
- clean water – 8 liters (another 4 liters for every kilogram of sugar);
- sugar (undesirable) - depending on the sweetness of the plums.
Cooking technology
1. Working with fruits. For slivovitz, you should select the sweetest fruits, maybe even overripe ones, but without rot or mold. Plums should not be washed to avoid removing wild yeast from the skin. Wipe very dirty fruits with a dry cloth.
Remove the pits, separating the plums into two halves. Grind the pulp and peel to a paste. This can be done with a meat grinder or a drill with a metal rod at the end.
2. Preparation for fermentation. Taste the wort; the mash should be a little sweet. Otherwise you need to add sugar. The amount depends on the acidity and sugar content of the plums. Add 100-200 grams of sugar, mix and check the sweetness. Sometimes several approaches are required.
Bandage the neck of the container with the pulp with gauze to protect it from flies and leave it in a warm, dark place for a day before fermentation begins. After 24 hours, foam will begin to form on top of the wort and hissing will be heard, which means that everything is going fine.
Pour the wort into the fermentation container and add water. After thorough mixing, place a water seal or a medical glove with a hole in the finger on top of the container (pierce it with a needle). First you need to make young plum wine, and then distill it into moonshine.
3. Fermentation. Place the container with a water seal in a warm place (18-25°C) and protect it from direct sunlight. Fermentation lasts 15-45 days. At this time, the water seal is actively gurgling. When the bubbles stop appearing, the mash will taste bitter without sweetness, and there will be a lot of sediment at the bottom, it’s time to move on to the next stage.
4. Distillation. Drain the mash from the sediment, filter through cheesecloth and pour into a distillation cube. It is very important to get rid of any remaining pulp that may burn. Distill the mash for the first time without dividing into fractions. Stop distillate selection when the strength in the stream drops below 30%. The moonshine may turn out cloudy, this is normal. Measure the strength, determine the amount of pure alcohol.
Dilute the resulting plum moonshine with water to 20% and distill a second time. The first 12% of the yield from the amount of pure alcohol is collected separately. This fraction is called “heads”; due to harmful impurities, it can only be used for technical needs. Select the main product until the strength in the stream drops below 45%.
5. Infusion. According to the classic recipe, the resulting drink should be infused in oak barrels (after diluting with water to 45-60%). If there is such a possibility, I advise you to implement it. Otherwise, after 2-3 days of aging in a dark, cool room in a hermetically sealed container, you can proceed to tasting.
How to drink slivovitz correctly
Due to its high strength, the drink is perfect as an aperitif (alcohol before meals). According to the Balkan tradition, the first glass is not eaten in order to catch all the notes of taste.
Slivovitz is drunk only in its pure form. When mixed with juices or other drinks, an unpleasant metallic taste appears. Traditionally, slivovitz is served with toasted cornbread, potatoes and meat as an appetizer.
