Cheers! Serbia’s plum brandy gets UN world heritage status

It’s time to raise a glass for sljivovica – Serbia’s traditional plum brandy that authorities said Thursday is being added to the U.N.’s list of intangible cultural heritage as a cherished tradition to be preserved by humanity.

UNESCO experts gathering in Morocco this week decided that “social practices and knowledge related to the preparation and use” of sljivovica (pronounced SHLI’-vuh-vitsah) deserve U.N. recognition as an example of an important cultural tradition, Serbia’s Ministry of Culture said.

The ministry filed the nomination in 2021. The bid reflected the entire process: from growing plums to making the brandy and how widespread a tradition it is as well as how that tradition can carry on in modern times, the ministry said.

Sljivovica has been handcrafted — and consumed — in Serbia for centuries, a custom carried from generation to generation that experts say has become part of the national identity. The tradition remains