Rakia - Rocket Fuel?

Image via Wikipedia

Rakia is often called rocket fuel from those outside Bulgaria. This is a term used by many who haven’t even tasted Bulgaria’s national spirit! The concept of using rakia as rocket fuel would probably work as it happens, but then so would whisky, gin, vodka and any other spirit with a alcohol content of 40% +.

Why have I brought up this subject of rocket fuel? Well is came to pass that every day I use a camping stove that boils up the water to make myself a cup of tea at lunchtime. There isn’t any cooking facilities at work hence this system that works very well. It is fuelled by mentholated spirits, which I purchase at a local store priced at 1.50 BGN Leva for 300 ml. This works out at around 4.50-5 BGN Leva per litre. I never though much else about it until I made Hot Rakia Toddy one day for my work colleagues one lunchtime as we were working in sub zero temperatures without any form of heating. As the Rakia was being heated it occurred to me that this Rakia could be used as fuel in place of the mentholated spirits. The idea became even more acute as I realised that this particular Rakia cost only 2 BGN Leva per litre to make as it was worked out on my last grape distillation last month.

So now I use Rakia (a previous batch which is not as good as my current grape Rakia) as the fuel to heat the water each day with the costs at around 30% of the purchased spirit.

So to come round again to the description of Rakia as rocket fuel, well not quite but fuel non-the less. This is another use for this versatile drink that has endless uses.

No Hangover After Rakia Wine And Beer Mix - Act Of God?

I read this with amusement as my expectation was that a massive hangover was due not only form the rakia that was drunk but the mixing with wine and beer. Either this guy is a hardened drinker or it really was an act of God! Whatever you think it is another experience of rakia drinking that add to the mystery of the spirit that works in so many way. By the way Alex Waber’s blog http://awaber.blogspot.com blog is well worth visiting for other very entertaining articles!

The hangover of God

We went on a one day road trip to a town called Novi Sad where the people are refered to as Lala's because of the way they speak. It was a ncie town, very pretty, very sleepy, but thats not the point of the story. To sum up Novi Sad I can say we walked in a circle and ate.

The point of the story is about an hour earlier on the road when we saw a stand on the side of the road and pulled off the road and got out of the car and walked over to the stand and ended up with two bottle of home brew Rakia (Moonshine to the enth degree. A much shinnier moon than other Rakias as well.) One was just good ol' normal Apricot but the other... Ooooh the other... A beautiful gold liquid with a mooden cross floating inside. Supposedly the drink was blessed at the local church. A holy Moon Shine with a cherry flavour. Delicious. Needless to say that night when we got home it was soon popped open to accompany our game of cards. The toxic shining moon like flavour instilled the fear of god in our minds as we realized that the following day we may have a holy hang over the likes of which we can hardly comprehend. After the game of cards we continued the frivolities back in THE CAVE of wine where it seemed to be "lets break glass day" as one group of drunkards broke every bottle they finished. Glass everywhere. Our jackets were on the floor. T'was ridiculous.

After that we went to Grad for a sweet german DJ who is up for best DJ I've seen since Justice. Not bad, eh? And that was two years ago! Lots of dancing, ending with two sandwhiches because I was hungry.
And then bed.

The whole night was full of Rakia and Wine and Beer.

No hang over. Magical. Act of God

Source: http://awaber.blogspot.com/2009/12/hangover-of-god.html

Rakia Making In Bulgarian Growing Fast

I found this news report on the subject of rakia drinking in Bulgaria with no surprise that Bulagria is in the top bracket of drinkers with the produce grown here ideal to making home made alcoholic drinks like wine and rakia. Because it is so cheap to produce it will of course always be taken advantage of in Bulgaria, but respected at the same time. Little and often is the case here as I have found out.

Bulgaria, by tradition, occupies the places around the top of world’s-heaviest-drinker-nations charts. According to Forbes magazine, each year Bulgarians consume 60 million litres of alcohol. Recent media reports show that the prices of homemade stills for rakia (Bulgaria’s traditional hard drink) are increasing rapidly with the approach of the autumn season, in defiance of the global crisis and Bulgaria’s ambitious 2009-2013 National Program for Alcohol Abuse Prevention the last cabinet was promoting in the last year of its term.

Most of the 500,000 Bulgarians, who are officially having problems with drinking, are middle aged, in their teens or even children.

Data from a poll conducted among students of the town of Dobrich, showed that every 7th pupil between the age of 14 and 17 get drunk more than ten times a year. Further, an EU-wide research in early 2009 revealed that half of Bulgaria’s 15-16-year-old schoolchildren choose excessive alcohol consumption, which quite often adopts a competitive character, at least once every month. “Competitive” is also the number of drunk-driving accidents. The World Health Organization has reported that 5% of all road accident deaths across the globe are owing to alcohol abuse. Be it with a jest or seriously, Bulgarians like to say of themselves that they drink like they’re getting paid for it. Here is a typically Bulgarian drinking joke: “A beer festival takes place in Germany… And the person to have the most beer was a Pernik citizen watching the TV broadcast of the festival.”

Source: paper.standartnews.com

A Christmas Greeting

A HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL FANS OF RAKIA

-------NASTRAVE!------

Rakia In Bulgaria - A Brief Overview

Yet another find given an oversight of rakia and where it stands in Bulgarian culture. This gives an good accoutnb of spilled rakia given to the deceased and is still very much practised here in Bulgaria.

Bulgaria has a flourishing wine industry and beer is coming into its own, but rakia is considered the national drink.

Rakia, also spelled rakiya or rakija, is a clear alcohol similar to brandy, made by the distillation of fermented fruits (grapes, plums, apricots, pears, apples, cherries, figs, quinces). It has a high alcohol content and home concoctions sometimes exceed 60%, making it a potent drink. In Bulgaria, rakia made from grapes (like Italian grappa) is the most popular, but slivovitz (rakia made from plums) also is popular.

Sometimes rakia is mixed with herbs, honey, sour cherries (when it becomes vishnooka) or walnuts after distillation and it takes on a dark color.

Rakia is usually drunk with appetizers known as meze and salads. Then wine or beer is consumed with the rest of the meal. If a drop of rakia happens to be spilled while pouring, it is said "that's for the deceased." Indeed, after a funeral, a toast of rakia is made and a little is spilled on the ground for the soul of the departed. At weddings, the bride's father goes from table to table offering rakia and encouraging good wishes for the newly married couple.

It has been said, one can tell if someone had too much rakia the night before because he or she can be seen eating tripe soup and drinking cold beer for breakfast as a hangover cure.

In general, rakia is considered a sign of hospitality and every guest is offered a tiny glassful as a symbolic gesture.

Source: http://easteuropeanfood.about.com
Image by Boby Dimitrov via Flickr

Sore Throat? Rakia To The Rescue

Another medicinal used for rakia which was discovered when my Bulgarian partner’s son suddenly took and interest in the kitchen ingredients for once. It is very rare that he ventures there other than to eat at the table or get beer out of the fridge! It was a sick Bulgarian who clattered about in the cupboards which the aim to make a potion to cure his sore throat.

It was a mug he used to combine the ingredients and permission granted to use my home made rakia, then and a quick burst of heat in the microwave and the steaming potion was taken and sipped whilst watching live international football on television.

Needless to say there were no moans about being ill after the ‘toddy’ had been drunk. It had soothed his throat and everyone knew that it would do the trick as it works every time.

If you happen to have these ingredients around and possibly want to save money on prescriptions, give it a try first. The recipe is simple and given here.

Recipe For Sore Throats Using Rakia

Ingredients

5 tablespoons Honey
5 tablespoons Rakia
5 tablespoons Oil (Sunflower)

Method

Put all the ingredients in a microwave proof mug and give a 1 minute 30 seconds burst on full with 750-watt machine or 1 minute 40 seconds on 700-watt machines. Give a stir so the honey is fully diluted and leave for 2-3 minutes before drinking.

Tip:
This is best drunk before going to bed and will aid a good night of sleep with a soothed throat and warmed up body.

Image by DragonFreak via Flickr

Rakia Making Equipment - Helps Improve Your Rakia

Making rakia is as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. Right from the points of picking the fruit that will end up as rakia it involves many step along the way to achieve a good spirit. It is a long learning curve that never ends.

Now in my fifth year of making rakia I am more equipment than I was in the first year as my collection of rakia making equipment such as barrels, chicken wire sieves, drill attachment mixer, various measuring bottles, pans and jars along with all the other bits and pieces that aren’t essential but help improve the end result. It is after all a science and measuring is an important part if success is to be made.

Most of the stuff that I have accumulated was bought form local markets, such as the plastic barrels, alcohol measurer and various kitchen reciprocals for storing and measuring. Some things I just can’t buy, such as the chicken wire sieve that is home made form wood and of course chicken wire.

There were a couple of items that I bought online in the UK when I was there last year I wanted quality rakia glasses to serve up our rakia to guests and just bumped into the site accidently. There are normallyquite hard to find online but we found a site that deals especially in wines and spirit drinking glasses and at a good price. Somehow it always tastes much better is served in purposely made for rakia and of course looks the part.

Looks like rakia gets more complicated as time goes on, but that's only because more tricks of the trade are taken on board and taken up when making it.

Rakia Wooden Drinking Vessels For Sale On Ebay

I caught site of a auction sale on eBay where four wooden drinking cups are up for sale. The buy now price is a staggering $49.99! I suppose it is an antique as they were made in the first half od the 10th century. They look well used and many Nastraves knocked out of them over the years. I see these types of drinking vessels in Bulgarian homes, it is a common way to serve the rakia. You can stiull buy these wooden type vessels in shops in Bulgaria but at a fraction of the price but new of course.

Here's the ad:

I am offering for sale this beautiful handcrafted set of 4 antique traditional Bulgarian wood cups for grape brandy and wall stand. All parts are very well preserved with some age traces and the measures of the cups are 45mm height x 40mm diameter, 30cm / 12 inches length of the stand. For additional details please look at the photos.

Free Rakia And Bulgarian Musical Entertainment In The USA

Seems like a good place to be other than Bulgaria that is. What's on offer isr free rakia to accompany a night of Bulgarian musical entertainment. This sounds a real Bulgarian treat in foreign lands. This is a home from home if you are a Bulgarian in Pittsburgh, America at this time. This is sure to make rakia a more well known drink to Americans who attend the concert.

Tuesday, December 15 - Dessy Dobreva in Concert - 8:00 pm at the Bulgarian Center
Dessy Dobreva, a talented Bulgarian singer with a broad range of musical styles, will be performing in Pittsburgh as part of her 13-city North American tour - A Trip to Bulgaria - to celebrate the holiday season with Bulgarians abroad, their friends and all music lovers. Be strongly cautioned: her music is addictive! Dessy is coming fresh from Moscow after promoting her new album Dorogoi Dlinnoyu (A Long Trip) with a great success. In her native Bulgaria,

Dessy is a well-known singer and TV personality. Her musical styles range from folk and popular songs in traditional and pop-dance renditions, through bossa nova, Latin jazz rhythm and salsa. Doors open at the Bulgarian Center at 7:00 pm. Tickets are $20. Tickets for students and seniors cost $15 and children have free admission.

A cash bar will be open and guests can enjoy free samples of a popular Bulgarian brandy - Slivenska Perla - provided by Plamen Karagyozov, the tour sponsor. You can contact Plamen at 412-398-0356 or at DessyVisitsPgh@gmail.com for more information or to purchase tickets.

The Angels Take A Share Of Rakia Alcohol

Image by janusz l

It was quite surprising to find that leaving rakia one month in the open barrel after distilling, the angels above must be having a party for all this time.

The alcohol content of the 42 litres of rakia was 58% when left to stand for the required month before being watered down to 44% and deemed drinkable. On checking the alcohol content after the month it had gone down to 51%! I was quite amazed that 7% of alcohol had evaporated into heaven. I knew that this happens but not to such dramatic loss. The rakia was made up to 49 litres with mineral water and now stands at 44% in sealed containers. This will ensure that it remains at this alcohol level for a lifetime and more.

This batch of grape rakia is the best I have made to date and should last through to next summer when the sliva rakia season starts again. Oh the beauty of cyclic nature!

Hot Rakia Toddy - The Best Winter Drink In The World

Drinking hot rakia is the traditional way of serving rakia during the pig slaughtering season in mid winter. My first taste was in my first year here actually during my first pig slaughtering experience as well. It sends a warmth within that can’t be touched by any other concoction in my opinion and is the only drink that could hit the mark with the extreme cold weather conditions that invariably encompasses the pig killing day. In a nutshell it is the best winter drink in the world.

The recipe is simple but has to be done in a precise way to get the distinct flavours of rakia and caramel to blend into something so memorable you will never forget your first taste.

I have given the recipe here actually given to me by three independent sources each one in this case was exactly identical in describing the process.

HOT RAKIA TODDY

Ingredients

300 ml Rakia
25gm White Granulated Sugar

Method:
Put the sugar in a saucepan and heat up until it turns a yellow/light brown colour, this is now the caramel set up. Then whilst still on the heat, stir in the rakia little by little. Continue heating until piping how but not boiling (do not boil!) Serve straight away in mugs to the pig slaughterers or of course on any other occasion that calls for you whole body to be warmed up and glow.

Tip:

This is a perfect way to welcome guests who have travelled to see you on a cold night and of course will more than break the ice not only in a conversation point. You might want to serve it in something more up market than mugs though!

Image by Boby Dimitrov via Flickr

The Third In A Trilogy Of Bulgarian Rakia Descriptions

A trilogy of rakis descriptions and this it the last and probably the most accurate. I hope all necomers over the last three posts are now more versed on what rakia actually is.

Image via Wikipedia

Rakia is a hard drink of Bulgaria. The ingredients required for Rakia are fermented fruits like plum, grapes, apple, fig, pear, quince and apricot.

Rakia has no color but when herbs or other additives are mixed with it then it becomes colorful. Milk salad, pickled vegetables, etc. are served with the popular drink Rakia of Bulgaria. Usually the capacity of alcohol used in Rakia is 40 % but the percentage of alcohol content goes up to 50 to 60% when they are made at home.

Rakia is made in a metal pot. The fermented fruits are distilled for making Rakia in Bulgaria. The pot is heated in a low flame. After heating you should throw away the thing that comes first as it becomes toxic. The ingredients used for making Bulgaria's Rakia should not be either too sweet or too sour or too bitter.

Among Bulgarian food Rakia holds a very special position.

Source: www.mapsofworld.com

Bulgarian Rakia - Another More Detailed Description

Another description on rakia for those who are unversed with it. this one is a bit more detailed than the previous post and comes form personal experience.

Rakia is an alcoholic drink that is found in the Balkans and is also classed as a national drink in Bulgaria. Rakia is made by distilling fermented fruits, Rakia can be made from many fruits like plums, grapes, apricots, pears and figs, I have only tried grape and fig rakia myself as they are the two my father in law makes. Rakia can be bought from the shops and is generally about 40% alcohol in volume but alot of the home made Rakia is alot stronger with about 60% alcohol.

Bulgarians tend to drink Rakia with traditional Bulgarian salads, normally you would drink your Rakia with your salad and then with your main course you would choose another tipple. While you are having your different meals you will often find small dishes of different appetizers on the table to pick at, these are called Meze and are there to compliment you Rakia.

Source: www.bulgarianguide.blogspot.com

Phot source: www.photos1.blogger.com

A Basic Description of Rakia

There are hundred of blog and websites that describe rakia. Every so often I get a few that do exactly this. There are a great variety of descriptions, which give a rundown on what rakia actual is and more. I have one selected today that I found. This is a very basic description giving a laymans account. For those new to rakia and visting this site for the first time it will give you a clear picture on what rakia actually is. (I disagree that factory rakia is the main source fo drinking in Bulgaria.)

Bulgarian Rakia

This is a traditional Bulgarian strong alcoholic drink. Although there are different types of it the most common one is grapes rakia.

Rakia is the traditional Bulgarian strong alcoholic drink. Originally it was home- made but nowadays it is produced in factories. There are different types of rakia depending on fruits used: plum rakia, apricot rakia, grapes rakia, cherry rakia and others. Rakia is consumed with different appetizers: cheese, lukanka, salads.

Source: www.cometobulgaria.org