Malinówka & other cordials

Malinówka, wiśniówka, miodówka, śliwówka, pieprzówka, dereniówka and many more home-made cordials are among the things that strike many PolAm visitors to Poland when visiting the homes of theri relatives. Anyone on PF make some of these? Any favourite recipes? They even make these with sweets - landrynki (fruit drops) which dissolve in the spirytus to create a sweet liqueur.

your friends must get around more than i do. i don't know anyone who makes these things.

if anyone wants a drink they go to the shop and buy it. generally.

None of mine do, either.

What's the point, when a bottle costs as little as 1zl?

FWIW I've never heard of people making any of these, but malinówka, żurawinówka, cytrynówka, miodówka etc are now available commercially.

And the idea of Pol-ams visiting their relatives used to be one of the more common scenarios for non-Polish citizens to interact with the locals, but now it's one of the _least_ common. Keep up with the times please.

You obviiously haven't got any old Polish uncles or family friends. Sure, the Yuppy types go to the off-licence for Johnny Walker or whatever in keeping with the commer-notion: just reach for your credit card - we'll do the rest. But the nalewka (home-made cordial) exudes a certain ambience of Old Polish hospitality that the shop-bought stuff never can.

Incidentally, your remark got me to thinking. Most probably those who have not visited and broken bread with relatives in Poland or live mainly in expat or yuppy-Pole circles can never gain a full grasp of what the country is all about.

it's a holiday, long-weekend. families are visiting each other. no bread is broken.

It would seem that you've been out of Poland for so long that you've even confused the difference between nalewka and those syrops sold.


Just like those who haven't been back in years after choosing to run away to the United States have little to no grasp of what is going on here, either :)

I agree that those who don't learn the language and mainly hang out with other foreigners don't learn much about Poland.

But, yuppy-Poles (as you refer to them) are just as much a part of the country (just as Polish) as the old uncles piddling around with bimber. I'd be sad if Polish people stopped making bimber and nalewka but most young people would rather shop for alcohol than make it themselves and are liable to see the homemade tradition as a necessity brought about by communism and other economic hardships. It's a good thing that Polish people now have a choice between homemade nalewka and a broad variety of retail products (from mass market to boutique tastes, I recently had a taste of pigwóka (from quince) that was delicious made by one of the many firms creating quality versions of traditional Polish foods and drink.

And there are plenty of us foreigners who've broken bread with Polish families. If anything a foreigner who can speak the language well can get a broader panoramic of the country than those whose experience is limited to old world relations and still thinks of the country as one big skansen....

Although htis is the All saints weekend, I'm sure those who have travelled to Kraków or wherever from Wrocław to tend to family graves will not be turned away by local rellatives and forced to eat at McDonald's or stay at a hotel. That's not the Polish way.

you are right. my family didn't go to Krakow, but they were received very well at the rellies.

Besides, there is an element of pride and satisfaction when serving guests something 'własnej roboty'. I reckon those are sentiments the off-licence crowd doesn't understand. You see, there is more to it than just ingesting as much percentage as possible in the shortest space of time. There are still such things as ambience, hospitality and bonhommie.

Polonius3, if you think I'm going to insult the hospitality of people here by suggesting that they should be spending time in the production of homemade alcohol instead of offering store bought products you've got another think coming.

(yeah I've had the homemade stuff too and it was nice, I'm not going to insult people that don't want to make it though).

ps. there are no "off-licences" in Poland. There is a variety of retail sources for alcohol (domestic and foreign) for every possible budget.

Lest we misunderstand, I am not talking abotu bimbrownictwo (moonshining). The overwhelming bulk of home-made nalewkas are made by infusing shop-bought spirytus with fruit, fruit syrups, honey, browned sugar (zapalanka), spices and otehr flalvouring ingredients. It's hard to say whether they are cheaper than the commercially available stuff. But they are purer. The home-spun cordial maker will use cherries, sugar and spirytus, whereas the distliiery adds artifical colouring, aromas and fłavourings. Another thing is that the price will vary if you base your nalewka on the wild blueberries you picked in a forest or those from Tesco or Kroger's.

I have been making home made liqueurs (nalewki) for years. My favorite is malinowka. I make it using my own raspberries. The recipe was given to me by my polish relatives. They make nalewki out of several different fruit.

Another one of my favorites is pigwowka, made out of quince fruit. It is said that the best pigwowka is made out of ornamental quince. The fruit is not usually available in stores but you can grow your own. No commercially available liqueur compares. These are not pasteurized or distilled and contain tons of vitamins and antioxidants.