No. 3410 — Fruit Nalivka: General Method

The author explains that nalivka may be made from many kinds of berries and fruit. The following general method was intended to produce an infusion resembling grape wine of medium strength.

First choose ripe, clean fruit without leaves, roots or other green matter. The source allows bruised fruit if it is not mouldy. Sour apples rather than sweet ones are recommended; cut them small enough to pass through a bottle neck.

Second, the vodka must be of good quality and thoroughly purified; the original specifies 25 degrees on the Hess scale. The author believes poor spirit gives the finished nalivka an unpleasant odour.

Put clean ripe berries or fruit into a large glass bottle to fill about two-thirds of its volume. Fill with purified vodka to the neck so that there is roughly one-third more vodka than fruit.

Cover the neck tightly with cloth, tie with cord and seal the cord ends. Stand the bottle at a south-facing sunny window for two to three months, shaking it every three or four days.

The period depends on ripeness and quantity: more mature fruit and a fuller bottle reduce the time. With fully ripe fruit and vodka reaching only two finger-widths above the fruit, the author says steeping may be reduced to about one and a half months.

To clarify, line a clean funnel with a whole sheet of cotton filtering paper and a strong cloth on top. Strain the nalivka directly into clean bottles, repeating if still cloudy.

At this stage the drink is considered too strong to resemble wine. The source directs adding about one-quarter water: one bottle water per three or four bottles strained nalivka.

For sweetness use ¼–⅓ pound sugar per bottle of the liquid including the added water, according to preference and fruit. Break sugar into small pieces and place in a well-lined saucepan large enough to hold the whole batch.

Add only enough water to dissolve the sugar and bring to a boil. The historical method pours the nalivka and dilution water directly into the boiling syrup, heats only until the mixture is about to boil, and transfers at once to a stoneware or faience vessel to cool.

Once cool, bottle, cork and seal. The author claims it can then be kept indefinitely and advises attaching numbered labels to bottles of nalivka, sparkling fruit drinks and syrups; the last number should be used first, making it easier to see the remaining stock.

The smaller sugar amount—¼ pound per bottle—is recommended for blackcurrants and cloudberries from Arkhangelsk province. The author especially praises cloudberry nalivka for a bouquet reminiscent of old Hungarian wine.

Her preferred fruits are cloudberries, blackcurrants, cherries, raspberries, redcurrants, lingonberries, plums and rowanberries. Rowanberries are gathered after the first autumn frosts, then infused in the same way, but on a cupboard in a warm room rather than at a window, for two or three months.