Well Rakia day came and went on Monday and the result was potentially the best rakia I have made since living in Bulgaria. The reason is quite simple, experience!
After being through so many rakia making days, not only with my own rakia but other Bulgarians, the methods used becomes second nature. All the tricks of the rakia trade onboard and being practised as the day progresses.
I recall my first rakia making day, it was a bit of a blur, not from the rakia, but form the complete alienation of doing anything like this before. Of course it illegal from where I came from so previous knowledge was nil. No books readily available on the subject in English at the time.
As promised in my previous post, no pictures due to a inoperative digital camera, not that that it made any difference to the rakia. In fact it would have been quite a distraction and refreshing not to have to bother with pictures. During the process kufte (Bulgarian burgers) were cooked on the embers of the fire that was doing the magic to the must. Alongside fresh Yambol bread and the event that was already a party just went up a gear. Why does ifood always taste better grilled this way? Measuring the alcohol and tasting was made throughout the four hour process along with moderating the heat, very important as I now know. Time just whizzed by as it kept me very busy.
The finished result was 45 litres of 51% proof rakia which oozes aroma from the secret ingredients I added. An additional to this 2 litres of 65% from the first sample were given to Baba as medicine to rub on her poorly legs during the coming winter and 10 litres of rakia which is below 35% proof to be add to the wine brought the next time I visit to distil.
All in all another great day with great people talking for 4 hours about rakia and hunting stories, they go hand in hand!
It is a wait for around one month to be infused with apples dunked, mulberry wood for the colour and additional mineral water from my well to bring the alcohol content to around 44%. This will of course give additional litres of rakia which should last until spring 2010!
After being through so many rakia making days, not only with my own rakia but other Bulgarians, the methods used becomes second nature. All the tricks of the rakia trade onboard and being practised as the day progresses.
I recall my first rakia making day, it was a bit of a blur, not from the rakia, but form the complete alienation of doing anything like this before. Of course it illegal from where I came from so previous knowledge was nil. No books readily available on the subject in English at the time.
As promised in my previous post, no pictures due to a inoperative digital camera, not that that it made any difference to the rakia. In fact it would have been quite a distraction and refreshing not to have to bother with pictures. During the process kufte (Bulgarian burgers) were cooked on the embers of the fire that was doing the magic to the must. Alongside fresh Yambol bread and the event that was already a party just went up a gear. Why does ifood always taste better grilled this way? Measuring the alcohol and tasting was made throughout the four hour process along with moderating the heat, very important as I now know. Time just whizzed by as it kept me very busy.
The finished result was 45 litres of 51% proof rakia which oozes aroma from the secret ingredients I added. An additional to this 2 litres of 65% from the first sample were given to Baba as medicine to rub on her poorly legs during the coming winter and 10 litres of rakia which is below 35% proof to be add to the wine brought the next time I visit to distil.
All in all another great day with great people talking for 4 hours about rakia and hunting stories, they go hand in hand!
It is a wait for around one month to be infused with apples dunked, mulberry wood for the colour and additional mineral water from my well to bring the alcohol content to around 44%. This will of course give additional litres of rakia which should last until spring 2010!
Image via Wikipedia
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1 comment:
I live in the USA. My mom and uncle are from Croatia. I would like to get my uncle some Rakia.
can i purchase it anywhere?
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