Slivovitz
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A traditional bottle of slivovitz |
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Croatian Sljivovica and Slovenian Slivovka, two different names for the same drink |
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Various bottles of Slivovitz |
Slivovitz (
IPA pronunciation: ) (
Serbian:
шљивовица or
šljivovica,
Slovenian:
slivovka,
Croatian:
šljivovica,
Bosnian:
šljivovica,
Macedonian:
сливовица (or
сливова ракија);
Polish:
śliwowica ;
Romanian:
şliboviţă;
Bulgarian:
сливова (
slivova) or
сливовица (
slivovitsa);
Slovak:
slivovica;
Czech:
slivovice) is a strong, colourless
alcoholic beverage primarily made of
distilled fermented plum juice, though similarly to Irish
poteen it is often home-distilled out of a variety of source materials, up to and including grass and other organic material. It is similar to
brandy and sometimes called
plum brandy in English. It is one of the drinks known in the Balkans as
rakia.
The beverage originated in the
Balkan Peninsula; the name derives from the
Slavic word for a plum,
šljiva or
sliva. Production is concentrated in
Albania,
Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Bulgaria,
Croatia, the
Czech Republic,
Macedonia,
Poland,
Romania,
Serbia,
Montenegro,
Slovakia, and to a lesser extent in
Austria,
Germany,
Hungary,
Italy and elsewhere.
It is the national drink of
Serbia, and most of the Slavic Balkan states where about 70% of plum production (average 424,300 tonnes per year;
FAO 1991–2001) goes into slivovitz.
The
alcohol content can vary from 25-70% by volume, but most store-bought varieties are 40"45%.
Slivovitz, like some of the other rakias, is kept in wooden barrels (
oak or
mulberry) for an extra aroma and the colour (golden brownish). Commercial distillers may use oak chips, toasted oak chips, or mulberry chips when aging slivovitz in glass or stainless steel tanks for flavor or coloring.
The
Slivovitz Festival sorts slivovitz into 3 major classes: aged in wood, aged in glass, and sweet. Sweet slivovitz is the result of maceration of fruit in the slivovitz after distillation.
Rakia is supposed to be drunk from special small glasses (0.3 to 0.5 dl). It is often drunk warm, sometimes even heated (sugar is caramelized in a pan before the rakia is added) for better effect.
*
Rakia*
Palinka*
Raki*
Ţuică
