Nalewka

Nalewka is fruit, herbs, spices or nuts steeped in spirit or vodka with sugar and left to mature, and it is the domestic drink of Poland: made at home from whatever the garden or the forest produced, sealed in demijohns, left on a windowsill or in a cellar for months or years, and brought out at family occasions. The classics have names and reputations - wisniowka from sour cherries, pigwowka from quince, orzechowka from green walnuts picked before the shell hardens, malinowka from raspberries, dereniowka from cornelian cherries, and the bitter herbal ones. Recipes are family property and there is a competitive edge to comparing them. Commercial versions exist and some are good, but the point of nalewka is that it is not commercial. Regional fairs and food festivals run nalewka competitions, and specialist bars in Warsaw, Krakow and Lublin serve a range by the glass.

What you actually see

• Fruit steeped in spirit - sugared and left to mature for months or years.
• Named classics - cherry, quince, green walnut, raspberry and cornelian cherry.
• Family recipes - kept, argued over and compared at gatherings.
• Competitions at fairs - where the home-made versions are judged.

When to go

All year. An hour.

Honest expectations

They are strong and sweet - most are thirty per cent or more. Commercial bottlings are often thin compared with home-made. Home-made nalewka offered to you is a compliment and refusing needs tact.

Nearby

Specialist bars in Warsaw, Krakow and Lublin have the widest selections.