Making good pálinka is not as hard as you think

Most Hungarians think about homemade “pálinka” in the same way to a certain extent. During a family meal or the visit of the relatives, a big plastic bottle of 1.5 litres, filled with pálinka is always there somehow. 

A typical scene of the event is when the one who brought it shares it proudly with twinkling eyes and everyone, sitting nearby tries to evade it somehow – usually with no success. In the end, after tasting it they decide that they would never drink it again – in the meantime, certain men decide to prove their manhood by going for another round without being knocked out by the strong beverage. 

According to divany.hu, Mónika Czakó and her husband, Gábor Czakó have been managing Bestillo Pálinakház (pálinka house), for a decade now. The started to learn cooking “pálinka” from the basic, and they have also been doing their own experiments in the meantime since then. 

Móni says that choosing the right ingredients is the most crucial phase of the process – having the right quality of the fruit vital. They only work with those that they would also put on the family table. According to Gábor,

the quality of the pálinka depends on the quality of the ingredients in 80%. 

They worked with controlled fermentation which means that they keep an optimal temperature in the surrounding environment for the mash, while the sugar content of the fruit transforms into alcohol. The process is controlled with certain kinds of yeast. According to Gábor, the selection of the yeast is based on its capability to make the most out of the unique character of the particular fruit that they work with.