Plum

Slivovica is Slovakia’s best-known spirit, and plum butter fills traditional dumplings and cakes.

The plum is a small fruit tree with grey-brown bark, slightly downy young shoots and elliptical, finely toothed leaves. White flowers appear in April, and the fruits – drupes with a bluish bloom – ripen from July to October, depending on the variety. Hundreds of varieties are grown, with blue, red, yellow and green fruits that are eaten raw, dried or made into plum butter and spirits. The trees spread easily by root suckers and go wild along roads and field boundaries.

Significance in the country

Slivovica is a traditional spirit distilled in many Slovak homes, and “Bošácka slivovica” from the Bošáca Valley in the Trenčín Region has EU protected geographical indication status. Plums also go into dumplings (knedle), filled pasta pockets (pirohy) and plum butter (lekvár), which is used to fill Slovak pastries.

Where it grows

Grown in orchards and gardens throughout the country, especially in the Trenčín Region, home to the Bošáca Valley, famous for its slivovica, and in the foothills of western and central Slovakia.

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