Tagyon Palinka Distilling

Making pálinka is another popular tradition here in Hungary, especially common in the country-side. The Hungarians are very proud of their pálinka, and every celebration usually begins with a toast. 

Most Hungarians will tell you that the best pálinka is the házi pálinka (homemade). 

I was very glad to participate in this event with our Hungarian friends, Tony and Bálazs.

This past weekend, while Cindy was in Poland, I took advantage of the invitation to help make pálinka (brandy) at the Kovács Wine cellar. It was a cloudy, overcast, and chilly weekend, but working outdoors and standing by the hot stove kept us all warm. Three different batches were scheduled: körte, (pear), barack (apricot), and finally a bor párlat (wine distillation). The cooker is wood fired, and the fermented fruit is kept from scorching by a sealed layer of palm oil between the fire and the cooking pan. It is basically a double-boiler with a capacity of about 15 gallons. Once the fire was maintained, it took about two and a half hours per batch. With the volume of the pears, we did four batches of the pear, compared to one of the apricot and one of the wine. The steam from the cooking pan is transferred to a coil kept relatively cool in a large drum.

Here Tony is feeding the wood stove.

The result is a slow trickle of liquid that is carefully collected. Initially the liquid is nearly 100% alcohol, then slowly the percentage goes down. Near the end of the process, a couple spoonfuls of liquid are poured in a saucer, and a lighted match is set in it. If it burns, the process is not complete. Once the alcohol content is not present and the liquid won't light, it's time to cool down the boiling pan, and empty the contents. Then a new batch can be started.

At the end of making a batch, the remains of the fruit are drained and scooped out, and carried up the hill to be dumped in the field. Tony actually chose that particular spot, because wild boar were coming down to that spot, and he wanted to create a "bait pile." We also kept busy by chopping wood, washing out tubs and barrels, and even raked and burned leaves.

What we produced this weekend is not quite the finished product. It must be distilled one more time at a distillery to achieve the perfect taste and alcohol content. So, no tasting yet!

Here Tony and Balázs are pouring wine into the cooker for the wine distillation.

At this point the fire was really pouring out some thick smoke!

We had a large shop light set up to illuminate the work area. It has been getting dark here by 4:30 P.M., and we had enough to do, that we were still outside until 9:00. And we all slept very well Saturday night!