Slivovitz

[Tallswife]

Started one jar of Slivovitz this weekend. Once I can score another jar, I’ll start a batch in that.

2.5 lb black plums-make 4 slits in each
1.5 C sugar
2 sticks cinnamon
2 2” pieces of lemon peel.
Vodka to fill jar

Add sugar and some vodka to dissolve. Add plums, cinnamon, and lemon peel. Cover to top of jar with vodka. Set in a cool dark place for 2 months. Stir weekly. Enjoy!!

 

[Dave Marsh]

Wow that sounds good. What size jar is it?? Daughter and son-in-law own a liquor store so I need to know how much vodka to order!!!!
Thanks,

Dave

 

[Tallswife]

Wow that sounds good. What size jar is it?? Daughter and son-in-law own a liquor store so I need to know how much vodka to order!!!!
Thanks,

Dave

I use gallon glass jars for this. Hope you enjoy it!

 

[Loyalist Dave]

2.5 lb black plums-make 4 slits in each

IF you are by any chance lucky enough to get that same weight in Damsons [Damson plumbs] it will improve the product.

"SLIVOVITZ: is a liqueur prepared in Austria-Hungary, Germany, Poland and other European countries, from Damson plumbs. It takes the title from Sliva or Sljiva, the Serbian name for the fruit." The Grocer's Encyclopedia 1911

LD

 

[Tallswife]

IF you are by any chance lucky enough to get that same weight in Damsons [Damson plumbs] it will improve the product.

"SLIVOVITZ: is a liqueur prepared in Austria-Hungary, Germany, Poland and other European countries, from Damson plumbs. It takes the title from Sliva or Sljiva, the Serbian name for the fruit." The Grocer's Encyclopedia 1911

LD

No Damson plums around here! Just black or red.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

No Damson plums around here! Just black or red.

Hence the previous "lucky enough" comment. It's tragic but they were a very popular plum in the 18th century, I find them mentioned in old cook books often, but they are not commercial and more, and you have to find a person with an heirloom garden. I have tried them fresh off a tree..., they are worth the effort (imho)

LD

 

[Grenadier1758]

My mother had a Damson plum planted at their house for quite a few years. The old tree died and could not be replaced.

Stark Brothers' Nursery has them listed, but out of stock.

 

[Daryl Crawford]

That sounds like it would taste a lot better than the commercial brand that is around here.

 

[Nyckname]

I need to start some'f this soon.

 

[wiksmo]

As long as I can remember growing up, I watched my Serbian Dad make slivovitz. He grew his own plums (not Damson, but it was tasty fruit). The glass jars lined up on the shelves in the basement cellar were absolutely beautiful. He gave many litres away each year as holiday gifts, and there was never anyone unhappy who received some.

At the family memorial dinner for Dad after he died, the toast drink before the meal (and during) was his home-made slivovitz. The next holiday season, my brothers, uncle, and a few close Serbian friends got the remaining bottles in remembrance of him. Tallswife, that's a very nice photo you posted.

wiksmo

 

[Columbus]

View attachment 11208 Started one jar of Slivovitz this weekend. Once I can score another jar, I’ll start a batch in that.

2.5 lb black plums-make 4 slits in each
1.5 C sugar
2 sticks cinnamon
2 2” pieces of lemon peel.
Vodka to fill jar

Add sugar and some vodka to dissolve. Add plums, cinnamon, and lemon peel. Cover to top of jar with vodka. Set in a cool dark place for 2 months. Stir weekly. Enjoy!!

After aging, do you strain and rebottle or just pour it off as you want some?

 

[Tallswife]

I just pour it off as I want some.

 

[Straekat]

After aging, do you strain and rebottle or just pour it off as you want some?

Don't dispose of the fruit. It absorbs some of the alcohol and eaten separately, used in deserts, etc.

A bit of information about plums and similar stone fruit trees relates to a virus that affects the trees, and plum tree varieties in the United States. When the bark on trees is damaged, and also the location of new shoots from the trees, a black lumpy growth can appear on the surface of the tree. If you see this happening, cut it off and promptly burn it. If it is left alone, it will spread to other locations on the tree and can hasten it dying.

The Damson plum originated in the Danube basin, and tends to be resistant to the stone fruit virus. It's not immune, only more highly resistant than peach and plum varieties originating in other locations of the world.

I have two Damson plum trees that are from Romania (don't ask....) that are fruit bearing now. Once the stone has germinated and begins to sprout and can be safely planted, the trees require between five and seven years before they will begin producing fruit. I prefer planting trees in pairs, to reduce cross pollination with other varieties. A single tree can produce a large amount of fruit and they will ripen over a 2-3 week period depending on the local climate. You might think two trees will be too much, although they are not difficult to give away.

Damson's can be found, although it requires some looking. Although I haven't seen many growing in the US, I have seen them (and other European trees) growing in Canada. If you want a Canadian one, you will have to consider how to bring them into the US from Canada.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Hate to burst your bubble, but you are just making plum flavored vodka. Real Slivovitz, consists of crushed damson plum mash, some sweetener and yeast fermented and then distilled into a brandy. Spent a New Years celebration with a college professor who hailed from Bulgaria. Then dated his niece for a while. Every celebration, birthday, anniversary, new car, favorite team won a championship etc, was grounds for another bottle (or three) to be shared and drained. slightly sweet, slightly syrupy and extremely potent. There is no way that flavored vodka is going to be anything remotely similar, except perhaps for the hangover 10 hours later..

 

[bang]

As a kid I use to get homemade peach and pear brandy from some area farmers. Way better than commercial. Down right tasty.

 

[Nyckname]

As a kid I use to get homemade peach and pear brandy from some area farmers. Way better than commercial. Down right tasty.

It's not that hard to make.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

It's not that hard to make.

If you have a still. Some people refer to "stuff" mixed with vodka as brandy. It isn't. In my much younger days, I had a large granite ware 2.5 gallon coffee pot. A piece of copper tubing stuffed into the hole where the glass bubble was located at the top and a piece of wet rag blocking the spout did a fair job. But I was living in south Florida. The problem was lack of decent fruit to ferment. Citrus is hard to ferment. Besides which, legal booze was dirt cheap, so it wasn't worth the hassle of distilling my own.

 

[Tallswife]

 

[Nyckname]

If you have a still.

They're not that difficult to make. I like replacing the pressure valve on a large pressure cooker with a fitting to take a tube.

 

[SDSmlf]

I have been able to pick up the real deal while in the Czech Republic.