A few tips how to choose the right plum tree for the best plum brandy

Would you like to have some trees in your garden? What about plums? A good choice indeed, because plum tree can give you a rich harvest that you can turn into something very useful and we do not mean a few plums for your cake or plums for jam. You are right we are thinking about making a plum brandy. This traditional Moravian spirit has managed to earn respect and it always has been one of the traditional spirits and not only in Moravia. What makes it so special? Well, it is purely natural, it makes “a bubble chain” around the glass, which is an indication of quality, and of course it tastes great and strong. It is also beneficial to health, but be careful, we talking about small amounts of course. If you want to grow the right variety and distil your own plum brandy then read on. We shall give you few tips

Plum tree varieties must be resistant to diseases

First and foremost, make sure that your particular variety is resistant to some of the most well-known plum diseases. The typical diseases include plum pox (sharka) virus or red leaf spots. Luckily, most current varieties can resist these diseases.

Sugar content is the most important factor

You should definitely pay attention to the sugar content of your plums. The higher, the better. If possible at all, sugar should not be added to the mash, that is if you want your plum brandy to be completely natural.

Ripening of individual varieties

The quality of plum brandy is largely influenced by the fact whether all the fruits in the yeast are sufficiently ripe, so we advise you to choose varieties that ripen approximately at the same time. Your choice of plum trees should therefore depend on the climate. Just to give you some examples:

• warm climate – Presenta, Toptaste,
• Middle climate or locations – Těchobuzická or Hanita,
• cooler climate – Durance, Wangheim.

Selecting a specific variety for the production of brandy and mash distilling to produce plum brandy is always a challenging process. When you picking plums make sure to select ripe fruit and eliminate rotten fruit and various impurities as they reduce the quality of the fermented mash.

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