anyone got a recipe for rakija?

by **hic52** » Sat Dec 04, 2010 4:54 pm

My Sisters son lives in Serbia and my sister has brought back some rakija which is a sort of plum/fruit brandy they make there, does anyone have the recipe for it.

I don\'t know whether they start with a basic spirit or whether they start with a fruit wine and then distill it, apparently its really nice.

by **short2** » Sun Dec 05, 2010 6:31 am

From what I can gather from the net families make their own and have their own recipies. They keep them secret. All they appear to say is its made from grapes plums fruit etc. If your son is over there he is better positioned to get a decent recipy once they have shared a few drinks with him. Seemingly it is a pretty potent brew something like brandy.I can not find a recipy only vague references to the stuff. Best of luck in your quest and if successful pass on the news and we will give it a bash.

by **hic52** » Sun Dec 05, 2010 3:42 pm

Will certainly pass any info on, no problem.

He has said he will let me know - yep i couldn\'t find out on the net either.

by **short2** » Sun Dec 05, 2010 8:12 pm

hic52 Just found a recipe. Go to answers.yahoo.com you will get a recipe there. Just typed in rakija recipe and found a guy asking the same question but its on Yahoo search engine. If you dont find it let me know and I will pull up the page again. Short

by **hic52** » Sun Dec 05, 2010 8:56 pm

Thanks Short do you have a link as i couldn\'t find it (apart from the hot toddy version have seen that before)

Did find the Bulgarian rakia though:

But even then it does not say how to prepare it although reading between the lines I think it would be a matter of fermenting like a wine then putting the wine through the still here is a copy of what i found about rakia:
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Rakia Recipe includes the distillation of several types of fruits like plum, grapes, apricot, pear, apple, etc. Rakia Recipe is one of the popular recipes of Bulgaria.
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.

by **short2** » Sun Dec 05, 2010 9:43 pm

HI, HIC52. Got the Bulgarian recipe. Not the Serbian. It appears reading between the lines they use mainly plums.The full Bulgarian recipe is as follows.

Take an 80 litre barrel and half fill with overripe fruit, almost any kind.Add 20 litres of water and 6 kilo of sugar and leave in a sunnish position for approx 14 days stiring every day.

The skins will float to the surface leaving a crusty looking layer. When this layer no longer floats but starts to sink the mixture is ready to go to the still.

Put the fruit mix in the still and add a sachet of bicarbonate of soda. The output of the still must be cold otherwise the flavour will be impaired. Check regularly with a spiritmeter and continue stiring until the alcohol level drops below 40% by volume.After this a separate container may be used to collect alcohol down to 30% for restilling with the next batch.

Keep in an open container with a muslin cover for 10 days for tanning to flash off prior to bottling. Most people add mineral water until Rakija is 42% by volume. The Rakija is then ready to drink and may God have Mercy on your Head.

by **Phantom** » Fri Dec 10, 2010 2:31 pm

Just got me thinking........ isnt the plum brandy of eastern european origin, often referred to as slivovitz (possibly/probably spelled wrongly).
Dont know about \"rakija\" as the term raki conjours up an ouzo like spirit in Turkey.
So maybe it might be worth searching \"plum brandy\"

by **short2** » Fri Dec 10, 2010 3:21 pm

Your right Phantom, it is all Raki. The whole of Eatern Europe make it in slightly different ways plus they give it regional names. I suppose they use the most available fruit to that region. I have been all over the net with it and thats the only conclusion I come up with. Those in the know appear to be of that opinion also.

by **Phantom** » Sat Dec 11, 2010 4:07 pm

So what would the difference be between a Raki made in Turkey and flavoured with aniseed like an ouzo/pernod etc and one made in Serbia or similar than might actually be flavoured with the fruit (Plums) and sometimes called Slivovich or similar.
Is it just the base materials to make the ferment ? The end flavour ? What ?
Not being picky/pedantic etc, just interested/curious as I haven\'t tried any aniseed flavoured stuff from eastern Europe, fruit (plum) etc yes, but the aniseed flavours seem to be mainly the near east/greece and of course France etc......

by **phlogiston** » Sat Dec 11, 2010 4:35 pm

Good information (but no recipe) on Wikipedia. It seems to be a generic term for fruit-based spirits. I guess the traditional way to make it would be to take the fruit, mash it up and let it ferment, without adding extra sugar or water. I\'d probably add some yeast to be sure.
I tried making something resembling slivovitz this year, but the plums didn\'t have very much sugar -- they would probably have significantly more in the Balkans. I would have ended up with a wash containing at most 4% ABV, so I added some sugar. The low wines are OK, but I don\'t think there\'ll be a lot of plum flavour in the final product.

by **short2** » Sat Dec 11, 2010 4:38 pm

From what I can discern and your not being pedantic they are all using what comes to hand fruit wise. They are all putting their own twist on it and call it by different regional names . The base is Rkaki . That is according to what I am reading. If you go into the page for Bulgarian Rajika and follow the thread you will be able to make your own mind up on things. I know if you make something with plums it tastes different from something made from apples. Only aniseed flavoured thing I tried was in Turkey. I went to work in France and as I do a bit of fine art I was in the custome house picking up our gear and they where all at break drinking wine . They asked me what I wanted to drink I Looked around me and the shed was piled high with whiskey, Vodka, Gin etc.Not having a word of French I said Vincent Van Gogh, moving my hand to my head in a drinking motion. They all shouted illegal, illegal. Now I hear the Green Fairy is back on the market.