Monday 15 December 2008

Serbian Rakia - Recommended Reading

There are quite few countries in the Balkan Peninsular that have Rakia or Rakia style making, one from Serbia was found today. It takes you through the process with a bit of history and trivia attached. the photographs are also very good and support the text very well.

Taken from:
http://palachinka.blogspot.com
I recommend you visit this site to see the full account.

Šljivovica

Šljivovica, plum rakija from Serbia is a world famous alcoholic beverage. Mostly homemade, it exceeds any other spirit.

Serbian Rakia - Recommended ReadingSerbian people have many uses of rakija. It has an important role in everyday and ritual life. There is no slava, wedding or funeral without rakija. Although the consequences of alcoholism are very well known, Serbian people has always considered rakija more useful than harmful. There is a saying "Rakija is medicine". Many elders drink it every morning on empty stomach because it opens the appetite. In traditional medicine it was used as the basic disinfectant.

History of rakija is blurry. Slavs came to Balkans in VII century and their affinity to Medovača, spirit made of honey, was documented in V century. We should certainly not ignore the fact that various fruit spirits were made and that they could have "evolved" into rakija. Speaking in the favor of the assumption that rakija was made in Serbia even before XV century is the fact that there is a paragraph about alcohol misuse in Dušan's Code (XIV century), one of the most significant Medieval law documents:

"Drunk goes form somewhere and if provokes or cuts one, or bleeds one, and doesn't kill, to that drunk shall an eye been taken out and a hand cut off. If drunk yells, or takes one's hat off, or embarrass in some other way, and doesn't bleed, that drunk shall be beaten, a hundred times with a stick, then thrown into a dungeon, and then taken out of the dungeon, beaten again, and than let go."
Paragraph 166 - About drunks

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