Slivovitz is a fruit spirit (or
fruit brandy) made from
damson
The damson (), damson plum, or damasceneSamuel Johnson equates "damascene" and "damson" and for "damask plum" simply states "see Plum" (''A Dictionary of the English Language'', 1755, p. 532). Later expanded editions also distinguish between "da ...
plums,
often referred to as plum spirit (or plum brandy).
If anyone else has a dictionary of some Slavic language that translates your word for slivovitz as "plum brandy", please add additional citations here.!--> Slivovitz is produced in
Central and
Southeastern Europe, both commercially and privately. Primary producers include
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...
,
Bulgaria
Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
,
Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
, the
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...
,
Greece
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
,
Hungary
Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
,
North Macedonia
North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...
,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
,
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
,
Serbia
, image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg
, national_motto =
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg
, national_anthem = ()
, image_map =
, map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...
,
Slovakia
Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...
,
Slovenia
Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...
, and
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
. In the
Balkans
The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...
, slivovitz is considered a kind of ''
rakia
Rakia, rakija, rakiya, rachiu or rakı (), is the collective term for fruit spirits (or fruit brandy) popular in the Balkans. The alcohol content of rakia is normally 40% ABV, but home-produced rakia can be stronger (typically 50–80%).
Ov ...
''. In Hungary it is considered a kind of
pálinka, but in Romania and Moldova it is considered ''
pălincă'', similar to ''
țuică''. In the Czech Republic, Slovakia,
Galicia, and
Carpathian-Ruthenia it is considered ''
pálenka''.
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
put it in a
UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists
UNESCO established its Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage with the aim of ensuring better protection of important intangible cultural heritages worldwide and the awareness of their significance.Compare: This list is published by the Intergove ...
in 2022 on request of the country of geographic origin Serbia.
Etymology
The word ''slivovitz'' derives from
Proto-Slavic
Proto-Slavic (abbreviated PSl., PS.; also called Common Slavic or Common Slavonic) is the unattested, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately from the 2nd millennium BC through the 6th ...
'plum' (, or ''slíva'', , /шљива, or ) with the diminutive
suffix
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...
(; ''-ice'' in Czech). Distilled spirits from different fruits are named similarly. For example, Czech 'apricot' → 'apricot spirit'; 'peach' → 'peach spirit'. Other names include slivovitza, slivovitsa, șliboviță, šljivovica, śliwowica, Schlivowitz, slivovice, slivovica, and slivovka.
Production and consumption

The primary producers are
Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...
, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, and Slovakia.
Regional names
Following the claims of several nations to the
protected designation of origin
The protected designation of origin (PDO) is a type of geographical indication of the European Union aimed at preserving the designations of origin of food-related products. The designation was created in 1992 and its main purpose is to designat ...
, in October 2007 the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
went for a compromise solution, leaving "slivovitz" as a
generic name, and granting individual nations the right to protect the origin with their own adjective.
In respective languages, ''slivovitz'' () is known as: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; , шљивовица; ; ; ; and .
Identical or similar spirits are also produced in Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Switzerland, the United States, and regional names include generic ''plum spirit'', ''Pflümli'', ''
Damassine'' or ''
eau-de-vie
An ''eau de vie'' (French language, French for distilled beverage, spirit, §16, §17 ) is a clear, colourless fruit brandy that is produced by means of fermentation and double distillation. The fruit flavor is typically very light.
In Englis ...
de
quetsche''.
Distilling process
Only Damson plums may be used as the base fruit for distillation. Before the production process, the plums may be slightly pressed or otherwise disrupted to speed up the fermentation process, but without damaging their ground
kernels;
yeast
Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom (biology), kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are est ...
,
starch
Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human diet ...
, and sugar may be added to the juice. The mixture is then allowed to ferment. There may be one or more distillation stages, depending on the desired final product or region of production, and aging is common to enhance the distillate's finer flavours.
Some producers have obtained a
Hechsher certifying that it is
kosher for Passover
''Chametz'' (also ''chometz'', ', ''ḥameṣ'', ''ḥameç'' and other spellings transliterated from ; ) are foods with leavening agents that are forbidden to Jews on the holiday of Passover.
''Chametz'' is a product that is both made from one ...
, and thus suitable for consumption during the festival when grain-based liquors are forbidden.
Some modern production techniques, such as those used by Clear Creek in Oregon, omit the use of the pits in fermentation to create a less acerbic or bitter taste.
Imitation slivovitz is made by flavouring spirits with
prune juice and artificial oil of bitter almonds.
History, by country
Bulgaria
In Bulgaria, the "Troyan plum spirit" (Troyanska Slivova) has been distilled in the
Troyan Monastery by the monks since the founding of the monastery in the 14th century. The original recipe included 40 herbs, and was passed through the centuries from abbot to abbot. In 1894, the Monastery's spirit was presented at a spirits competition in
Antwerp
Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...
, Belgium, where it won a bronze medal. Some of its distinguishing characteristics include that it is made of a plum variety that only grows in the
Troyan region, an old variety the locals call "Madzharkini plums", very juicy and aromatic whose stone, unlike the Teteven plums, is easily removed from the fruit; it is distilled in a vessel with a capacity of 80 to 120 litres; and only the best of the harvest is distilled. It is considered best distilled to an alcohol level between 39 and 41
degrees. Some celebrities who have tasted Troyan plum spirit are
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005.
In his you ...
and former US President
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...
.
Patriarch Maxim of Bulgaria celebrated his 95th birthday in 2009 in the
Sofia Metropolitanate with Troyan plum spirit.
In 2007, in cooperation with the Bulgarian government, the Czech distillery ''Rudolf Jelinek'' protected the brands "Troyanska slivova" and "Tetevenska slivova" in the EU. That same year, this distillery, the largest European manufacturer of fruit distillates, bought a majority share in the largest Bulgarian slivovitsa vinery "Vinprom-Troyan", after having bought, half a year earlier, the second largest "Destila Teteven". However, the Czechs reduced the
alcohol content to pay less duty. The production of "Vinprom-Troyan" is mainly for export. For the past 18 years, Troyan has had a special holiday: ''The Festival of Plum''. This holiday is celebrated at the end of September in Troyan and in the village of
Oreshak, where the Troyan Monastery is located. The plum has always been an essential produce in this region. Since the beginning of the 20th century, plums have been made into marmalades, pesto, dried prunes, and pulps, all of which were exported into Western Europe.
Czech Republic and Slovakia
In the Czech Republic and Slovakia ''slivovice'', or '' slivovica'', respectively (as well as other fruit-based distilled alcoholic drinks) due to the somewhat symbolic status of the
Moravia
Moravia ( ; ) is a historical region in the eastern Czech Republic, roughly encompassing its territory within the Danube River's drainage basin. It is one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia.
The medieval and early ...
n "national" drink is strongly presented in local traditions, culture and pop culture like in proverbs, songs, TV shows and movies.
''Slivovice'' is primarily produced in the southern and eastern provinces of Moravia and in
Vysočina, where the country retains its rural character. Although not legal, traditional
moonshine
Moonshine is alcohol proof, high-proof liquor, traditionally made or distributed alcohol law, illegally. The name was derived from a tradition of distilling the alcohol (drug), alcohol at night to avoid detection. In the first decades of the ...
home
distilleries are very common across the Moravian countryside, nonetheless, the majority of private production moved to certified local community-owned distilleries to prevent errors during the distillation process (leading to concentration of toxic
methanol
Methanol (also called methyl alcohol and wood spirit, amongst other names) is an organic chemical compound and the simplest aliphatic Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol, with the chemical formula (a methyl group linked to a hydroxyl group, often ab ...
). Certified production also allows state authorities to collect respective taxes (based on the
proof of the alcohol in the final product), however tax-reliefs for limited private and non-commercial production of the drink exist. The usual proof of private-produced ''slivovice'' is over 50% of
alcohol
Alcohol may refer to:
Common uses
* Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds
* Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life
** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages
** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...
in the final product, commercially available mass-produced slivovice is proofed less.
''Slivovice'' is mostly served in small shot glass known locally as ''"panák"'' (literally: a dummy),''"baňa"'' (variation of the word shot/bang in dialects of southeastern Moravia), "''kalíšek'' (colloquial for a small cup) or "''štamprle'' (from German "''das Stamperl'', a little glass). Keeping slivovice cold helps to reduce the effects of high proof or not ideal taste; however, the drink is not to be served on the rocks. The only accurate way to drink slivovice is a shot glass. To enjoy the aroma and taste of the original fruit it is better and more common to drink ''slivovice'' served at room temperature.
Poland
The
mountainous region of southern Poland has a long tradition of making slivovitz. Historically it has been distilled by local
Goral highlanders and not necessarily given any particular brand names. One of the more recognised of such products is
Śliwowica łącka associated with the town of
Łącko. However, due to the fact that it is made without any specific control and brand ownership it has declined in quality, especially in recent years.
Slivovitz was also distilled in large quantities by the
Jewish community of Poland before the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. As a popular
Passover
Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday and one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Biblical Egypt, Egypt.
According to the Book of Exodus, God in ...
alcohol, slivovitz had a strong standing among the traditional
Jewish-Orthodox communities. State-owned distillers tried to reintroduce the slivovitz based on Jewish traditions in the form of ''Pejsachówka''. After 1989, Pejsachówka had disappeared from the market. Polish distillers continue to produce Śliwowica Paschalna and Śliwowica Strykowska (Strykover Slivovitz), which are both certified as
kosher
(also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, ), from the Ashke ...
.
Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia and Slovenia
Šljivovica ( sr-Cyrl, шљивовица, ) is the national drink of Serbia in domestic production for centuries, and the
plum
A plum is a fruit of some species in Prunus subg. Prunus, ''Prunus'' subg. ''Prunus'.'' Dried plums are often called prunes, though in the United States they may be labeled as 'dried plums', especially during the 21st century.
Plums are ...
is the national fruit. Šljivovica has a
Protected Designation of Origin
The protected designation of origin (PDO) is a type of geographical indication of the European Union aimed at preserving the designations of origin of food-related products. The designation was created in 1992 and its main purpose is to designat ...
(PDO).
Plum and its products are of great importance to Serbs and are a part of numerous traditional customs.
A Serbian meal sometimes starts or ends with plum products and šljivovica is served as an apéritif.
[ A saying goes that the best place to build a house is where a plum tree grows the best.][ Traditionally, šljivovica (commonly referred to as " rakija") is connected to a Serbian culture as a drink used at all important rites of passage (birth, baptism, military service, marriage, death, etc.).][ It is used in the ]Serbian Orthodox
The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian churches.
The majority of the populat ...
patron saint celebration, Slava.[ It is used in numerous folk remedies, and is given certain degree of respect above all other alcoholic drinks. The fertile region of ]Šumadija
Šumadija ( sr-Cyrl, Шумадија, ) is a geographical region in the central part of Serbia. The area used to be heavily covered with forests, hence the name (from ''šuma'' 'forest'). The city of Kragujevac is the administrative center of t ...
in central Serbia is particularly known for its plums and šljivovica. In 2004, over 400 000 litres of šljivovica was produced in Serbia. In 2017, Serbia was the 5th largest producer of plums and sloes in the world.
After legal disputes, following the compromise of 2007 "Serbian Slivovitz" ( / ''Srpska šljivovica'') became Serbia's first certified national brand.
Šljivovica is consumed either directly from a leather-wrapped round bottle, or chilled in a shot glass called ''čokanjčić'' (plural: ''čokanjčići''). There is also a town in Zlatibor
Zlatibor ( sr-cyr, Златибoр ) is a List of mountains of Serbia, mountainous region in western Serbia.
Among the most popular places in Serbia for tourism, Zlatibor's main attractions include health tourism, skiing, and hiking and the lo ...
, called Šljivovica. A popular print in Serbia depicts a moustached peasant wearing the '' šubara'' (fur hat), drinking šljivovica from a leather-wrapped bottle, with the motto: ''"Fuck the Coca, fuck the pizza, all we need is šljivovica"''.
In 2021, Serbia's šljivovica was added to the United Nations Intangible Cultural Heritage List as a "cherished tradition to be preserved by humanity".
In Slovenia it is known as ''slivovka''.
See also
* Damson gin
* List of Slivovitz producers
* Plum jerkum
* Tsikoudia
* Tsipouro
References
Sources
*
External links
{{Authority control
Bosnia and Herzegovina distilled drinks
Bulgarian distilled drinks
Croatian distilled drinks
Czech distilled drinks
Hungarian spirits
Fruit brandies
Macedonian drinks
Plum spirits
Polish distilled drinks
Serbian distilled drinks
Serbian products with protected designation of origin
Serbo-Croatian words and phrases
Slavic words and phrases
Slovak distilled drinks
Slovenian distilled drinks