More Facts On Sliva For Rakia And Compote

Gathering sliva is one of the pleasures of living in Bulgaria. The sliva tree is such a pretty sight when full of ripe fruit. There are so many varieties of sliva that come in all colours from pale yellow to almost jet black and all sizes from cherry size to bigger than golf balls.

Not all sliva is good for making rakia, some varieties just don’t have the body or natural sugar content to make decent rakia. The name of the game is to make the first fermentation as higher alcohol content as possible with the addition of sugar to supplement. You will se many trees that are not suitable for rakia making still with their fruits on right through to autumn as the Bulgarian won’t pick them and use them.

Then there is the compote where the whole sliva fruit is jarred in a sugar-based syrup and eaten throughout the autumn, winter, following spring and beyond. The biggest, sweetest sliva is used for that and well worth the effort to make. The syrup from this is drunk and when the new season of sliva compote is made again the old stock is normally added to the rakia making sliva so there is now waste even from past the sell by date on sliva compote.

Right now the sliva picking season is in full swing with an amount of excitement with the chores of gathering the crop. The thought of rakia ready to drink in a couple of months from this is always in the forefront of the gatherers minds. A winter stock of rakia and non alcoholic sliva compote is about to kick off.

Good Sliva In Town - None In The Country

Image via Wikipedia

Today I went to collect the sliva to make the first batch of rakia of the year. Previous to this I missed the cherry harvest. Time was the essence and what with all the chores on growing crops this year it was missed, shame as this year’s cherry harvest was very good, maybe next year.

In the village it is a poor year for sliva, just like last year. The many sliva tree that lay around the village are almost bare with the lack of fruit. Locals just accept this as one of those things that happen in nature. Next year is another year and maybe a bumper crop. There is no secret to good sliva crops, it is a good or a bad year and that is accepted. No real disappointment but the looking forward to next year. Beside which the grape crops this year are looking very good indeed.

This weekend we had a call to say that the sliva in Yambol is particularly good and I was welcome to shake a few tree to gather sliva there for this year’s rakia. This was an offer I couldn’t refuse. So this week it was off to the location of the sliva trees that had been offer for picking. They were full of sliva but only one tree was ripe enough to crop. Plastic sheeting was laid out beneath the tree and the tree shaken violently as the juicy sliva fell showering the sheeting and myself.

The fallen sliva were laced in a 240-litre barrel and put to one side. There were many green sliva that had fallen as the rips fruited tree impinged the space of another. These unripe fallen sliva were not wasted and put out to ripen in the sun to be collected a few days later along with other trees to be cropped. There should be enough for at least 80 litres of rakia judging by the amount of sliva I saw. Half will be given to the owner who offered the crop as barter for the gathering.

So, in the village there is no sliva and in the town a great crop. No explanation as to why. It is a case of going along with nature and not trying to interfere by using artificial ways to produce bigger harvests. There is no greed involved here just picking what nature provides –a beautiful concept within the culture of rakia making from sliva.

Rakia, Wine And Now Home Brewed Real Ale In Bulgaria

Since moving to Bulgaria and discovering Rakia I can’t say that I have missed my previous favourite spirit whisky. But the spirit’s cousin beer is another matter. I do miss the real ale and no one makes it in Bulgaria so I decided to try making my own here and to my amazement it was not only a success, but I have had requests from Bulgarian to make more as they loved it.

My brother bought me a beer making kit online for my birthday as I hinted one day that I did miss the my home brewing and real ale, even though we are previlaged have wine making and rakia making coming out of our ears here. The kit had everything that you need as I had to start from scratch again here. From start to finish it took less than two weeks ready for drinking and I used the well water, which is used for my rakia making.

My brother, who is lives in the UK, had joined the beer club from where he got the beer making kit and has now started his own brewing for the first time in his life at 50 years old!

So now not only well content in making my own rakia, wine and buying great lager type drink here that you can’t compete with in Bulgaria, but real ale from beer kits that compare very well with the ‘pub’ versions – and cheap as chips being home brewed of course.

Rakia As An Antiseptic

Image by double dose via Flickr

Rakia has many uses in Bulgaria and apart from drinking a little everyday the second most used method for rakia is its antiseptic values. In the villages up and down the country working on the land with tolls often lead to cuts and bruises. Not only in the country but n town and cities working in factories or even just in the home accidents happen and this is where the rakia comes into play.

The initial distillation of rakia (about 1 litre) brings about a spirit that is around 70% proof. This is put aside for medicinal purposes and consider toxic to drink. It is stored in a jar or bottle and put in the medicine cupboard along with other conventional first aid appliances. This is the first place that is visited when an accident occurs. A cut is dabbed with the rakia and this is a great and truely effective form of antiseptic – as good if not better than most commercial chemist products that cost the earth.

On may occasions I would have seen Bulgarians dipping their finger in their drinking rakia and dab it on a would or bruise in the evening. I myself have found that this habit of using rakia to sterilize cuts is being used to great affect. After the initial stinging, which is deemed a good healthy pain it is certain that the wound will heal that much quicker and with a little rakia in the blood circulation prior to bed also adds to the healing process.

We now have 70% rakia in our medicine cupboard and it is used frequently, in fact I wouldn’t use anything else now as an antiseptic. It works and is a pure and natural remedy with no chemicals involved at all. Surely it is just a matter of time before rakia is realised outside the Balkans as a great alternative to commercial antiseptics.

Rakija - A Norwegian Band With Balkan Spirit

This blog is about all thing to do with Rakia and here is another example of a Balkan band called Rakija named after their National Serbian spirit even thouyh they were originally based in Norway.

Just enjoy the music, which to my mind could easily be enjoyed with a glass of rakia as a companion.

Rakia from not only Bulgaria, but the Balkans as a whole has an ever-growing worldwide reputation and this band certainly gives added knowledge to wherever they perform, live on CD or online through YouTube.

Rakija is a unique Balkan band, but it is also the name of the famous Balkan brandy, made of grapes, plums or other fruits. Both the band and the brandy will make you feel warm inside, and make even the stiffest Norwegian just bursting to dance!!!

The band Rakija was formed in 2007 in Oslo, gradually becoming a musical collective with musicians from Serbia and Norway. They play traditional music from the Balkan region presented in fresh, modern arrangements, and incorporating elements from rock and classical music. They also keep adding their own songs to the repertoire.

Rakija has become a live act well known for its energy, musicality and broad appeal. The band has already played at many different venues in Oslo and Norway, inspiring people to dance their shirts off at Balkan parties, while moving other people to tears with acoustic performances. The band continues to grow as a musical unity, attracting many different types of audience.

SAID ABOUT RAKIJA:
”Rakija is the name of a Serbian brandy, but it is also the name of the ensemble that this evening sang and played catchy, rhythmical Balkan folk songs, almost blowing off the roof of the church! Many people in the audience sang along, while some wiped tears from their eyes – moved by the impression the band gave with its powerful performance”.

Hege Boman Grundekjøn, after the concert in Røa church, 13. February 2008

Source: http://www.rakijaband.com/biography.html

Great Picture Of A Rakia Kazan

There was a great picture of an old fashioned kazan system published in Wikipedia on the 1st of July 2009. It looks like it is from a museum or similar type of establishment. It certainly isn’t in use with the decorative logs of wood underneath the brass pot. I just wonder how many litres of rakia this particular kazan produced in its lifetime. Somehow I think it comes from outside Bulgaria, as there isn’t normally wooden cooling condensers that are made here.