Mashing the pear

The pear variety known as the salt pear or Austrian pear is also known as the black pear.
Some consider it to be a hybrid of the thick-branched pear and the wild pear.
It is a true monarchical pear, grown in western Transdanubia, Burgenland and Styria. As a cultural relic it is protected under nature conservation law.
Its fruit is found under the tree, it used to be used to make vinegar, but it is also an excellent base for brandy. When vinegar is made, it is crushed, pressed and then settled in the barrel.
The fruit, when it is ripe, has an astringency when fresh, and softens later to make it edible. It is susceptible to powdery mildew when young.
When the inside of the pear is brown and the skin is browning, it is usually mash-pressed. The fruit is dried whole.
The apple fruit is flattened, rounded or round-necked, 25-40 mm long, yellow when ripe, and usually falls off the tree when half ripe.
In Hungary, it is found sporadically in the Zemplén Hills, the Cserhát, the Sárhegy in Gyöngyös, the Dunazug Hills, the Balaton highlands and the Western Transdanubian region.
It is a pear variety from the Göcsej and the Őrség, made famous by its pálinka, which is a gourmet's favourite because of its unique flavour. It is widespread in several parts of Western Hungary. It ripens from the end of August.
Many of us use fallen fruit to make brandy. These fruits are contaminated with soil, mud, dust, soil bacteria and wild yeasts. These impurities can inhibit yeast activity and cause undesirable fermentation (acetic acid, butyric acid, acetone). Only ripe, healthy, clean, carefully washed fruit, free of pesticides and soil bacteria, can be used to produce quality mash. If this rule is not observed, the distillate will be unfit for human consumption or, in the worst case, poisonous.
During fermentation, soil bacteria produce a toxic compound called acrolein.
To make the sugar in our fruit turn into alcohol as quickly and easily as possible during fermentation, it is advisable to cut it into as small pieces as possible. The purpose of the chopping is to break up the fruit tissue, to reveal the sugar-containing juice! The sugars dissolved in the cells are released so that the yeasts can easily start the fermentation process.
The pH of the mash is optimally adjusted between 3.0 and 3.2 by acidification. This pH reduction prevents the growth of undesirable lactic, butyric and acetic acid bacteria. These bacteria break down sugars and cause the mash to deteriorate.
Why should I use a yeast? Specific yeasts suppress undesirable wild yeasts and bacteria, release more of the fruit's aromatic compounds and produce more of the fruit esters that improve the quality of the spirit. Their use converts fermentable sugars into the alcohol we want with maximum efficiency. Specific yeast fermentation produces more alcohol than spontaneous fermentation.