My fourth season of nalewka making in Jakubowizna. This year - my own bushes - I bought and planted ten blackcurrant bushes in late February - and to my amazement, all bore fruit in their first season. Two different varietals, Titania and Gofert. The latter produced much more fruit, but was less robust, with around a quarter of the currants being small and shrivelled (I presume blighted). The Gofert currants that grew to full size were tastier than the Titania; but the bushes were twice as expensive (10 złotys rather than 5 złotys).
Talking of 'twice as expensive', the other raw ingredient of nalewka - spirytus rektyfikowany 95% - is now twice as expensive as it was pre-pandemic. Even in the cheapest online discount supermarket it is still around 70 złotys for a half-litre bottle, when it used to be 35zł. This means limiting production to what goes down best - czarna porzeczka - blackcurrant. Yes, it's easier to make wiśniówka, sour-cherry nalewka. The fruit is far more common, growing wild as it does on roadside trees and bushes. No shortage of raw material, but then wiśniówka is available in the smallest village shop.
At the other end of the scale, we have poziomkówka, a nalewka made from wild strawberries. Whilst the wild strawberry has a unique taste and aroma (almost perfume-like), it's tiny - weighing between one-third and half a gram. (A typical commercially grown strawberry is 10g-20g.) Picking enough to fill a container is a lengthy process, and at the end of the day, people who've tried the poziomkówka will say it's unique, it's intriguing... but they prefer the blackcurrant flavour. And so this year, I'm focusing on the czarna porzeczka; next winter I'll be buying and planting more bushes.
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