Pečenje rakije (Serbia)
| Pečenje rakije 🇷🇸 | ||
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| Location: Serbia | ||
| Definition: Distilling brandy from local fruit in rural households, used as a gift or for showing hospitality | ||
| Keywords: Serbia – Europe – Balkans – Yugoslavia – Food – Alcohol – Agriculture – Hospitality – Gift – Gender – Celebration – Masculinity – Religion | ||
| Author: Maria Vivod | ||
| Affiliation: Research Unit ‘Dynamics of Europe’, University of Strasbourg, France and Novi Sad, Serbia | ||
| Website: Profile page on Academia | ||
By Maria Vivod, Research Unit ‘Dynamics of Europe’, University of Strasbourg, France and Novi Sad, Serbia
| Pečenje rakije refers to distilling beverage alcohol outside of a registered distillery. In the region of the Vojvodina, Serbia, a product of such distillation is called – according to each official language of the province – rakija (in Serbian and Croatian), pálinka (in Hungarian), rachiu (Romanian) or pálenka (Slovak). Rakija is a type of fruit brandy, similar to the Italian grappa, most often distilled in rural households from local fruit (see also Russian samogon and American moonshine). The distillation process, called pečenje rakije (‘bakingʼ rakija) is a small private or communal event in which a mash of ripe fruits that has been fermenting in a barrel for weeks beforehand is treated in an alembic copper distillatory vessel (kazan za rakiju). Pečenje rakije is often a male gathering and a way for households to procure a yearly quantity of prized spirit alcohol intended for gifts and for guests at special occasions such the family slava celebration, birthdays, weddings, svinjokolj (pig slaughter) and other social events. |
Rakija had an important role in the rural household, as documented ethnographically between 1920-1960 (Barjaktarević 1961). It was integrated into the ritual of slava, a feast day celebrating patron saints in the Serbian Orthodox households. It had a role in Christmas, Easter, wedding and baptism celebrations, and was and still is an indispensable sign of hospitality. It was also a requisite in funerals. A drop from glass, poured by each mourner, was spilled on the ground for the soul of the deceased. Bottles of rakija or wine were also left on graves, as part of the yearly commemoration of the dead.
Rakija has several types and levels of quality. At the end of the nineteenth century, a Serbian author provided chemical and sensory evaluation for over thirty types of Vojvodinian rakija (Petrović 1889). Poor households, without access to orchard fruit, were able only to produce low-quality komadara made from cereal such as wheat or corn, (Barjaktarević 1961, Petrović 1889), or brandy made from foraged fruit such as greengage (ringlópálinka) and mulberry (dudovača) (Vukmanović 1999). Low-quality brandy was made from pumpkins, although less frequently (Barjaktarević 1961). Fruit brandies with higher reputation were made from plums (šljivovica), apricots (kajsijevača) and peaches (breskovača). Rakija made from grapes was called komovica (also loza or törkő (Petrović 1889). The sensory properties and alcohol content of rakija is often evaluated with a Baumé scale (called grad), a hydrometer for measuring liquid density (Dikić & Dikić 2003). Although the method is old-fashioned and less appropriate for measuring alcohol properties accurately (see Petrović 1889), using it is perceived as a sign of skill and connoisseurship.
Rakija-making in Vojvodina started to develop from 1718 onward, in the transition period between the periods of the Ottoman Empire and the Hungarian crown land. Alcoholic beverages were produced and smuggled into the Ottoman Empire, where the Sharia law either taxed them or prohibited their production (Mrgić 2017). According to an imperial Habsburg order from 1772, each Vojvodinian household was ordered to plant on its property and on the street in front of the house thirty-two mulberry trees (Vukmanović 1999), to encourage and foster the production of silk. In the Bačka area of Vojvodina alone there were 250,000 mulberry trees. The amount of fruit inspired the production of dudovača. Dudovača used to be considered a poor man’s brandy, but nowadays mulberry has become rare and the Vojvodinian dudovača has been recently rebranded as a regional specialty (Vukmanović 1999).
The distillation of rakija lasts between five and eight hours and is usually conducted by men. The distillation can last from a couple of hours to a whole day depending on the quantity of the fruit mash. Friends and neighbors will often gather for the occasion, although more serious amateur producers will avoid company in the effort to concentrate on producing quality. Producing good-quality rakija is a source of pride and respect in the community. One can also pay a fee to a communal distiller, who owns the necessary equipment.
Pečenje rakije is a labour- and resource-intensive practice. The chosen fruit is first turned into fruit mash (called komina, džibra, kljuk or cefre) in a barrel. Fruit quality impacts the quality of rakija, therefore only ripe, never rotten fruit should be used. Stones are usually removed from the fruit by hand. Sugar is added to the mash to start the process of fermentation in which fruit sugar turns into alcohol. It is desirable to add as little as sugar as possible – too much sugar left after the fermentation gives rakija a different taste. Rakija with too much sugar is pejoratively called šećeruša (from šećer, sugar). Fermentation lasts between 7 to 15 days, depending on the sugar content and ambient temperature (ideally between 20 to 25°C). The mash is carefully stirred every few days and monitored for signs that the fermentation process is complete. This is done by checking for presence of oxygen on the surface with a lit match (the process is done if the match stays lit) or by checking if air bubbles are emitted from the mash. Once the fermentation process is complete, the mash is distilled. It is desirable to achieve an alcohol volume of 50 percent, although to preserve the identifying aroma of the fruit from which the rakija was made, some rakije need to be 'weaker'. A strong yet aromatic rakija can be achieved with distilling the mash twice. Such brandy is called prepečenica (ʻover-bakedʼ rakija) and it requires a large amount of fruit: for 1 litre of peach brandy 20 kg peaches are needed (Vukmanović 2005). The traditional, informal sensory evaluation comprises of descriptions of taste, smell and clarity of the liquid. Rakija with high alcohol volume is called jaka (‘strong’), ljuta (‘spicy’), momačka (‘lad-like’), žestoka (‘fierce’) or izuvača (‘shoe-stripper’). Rakija with low alcohol content is labeled slaba (ʻweakʼ) or tanka (ʻthinʼ) and sometimes called mučenica (ʻmartyrʼ) since the fruits have supposedly ‘suffered’ during the preparation.
Certain types of rakija, such as travarica (medicinal herbs macerated in grape brandy) or komovica are used for medicinal purposes and are kept on hand in households for home-emergency medical treatments such as tooth ache, headache, stress-relief of cut-wound to be applied topically or as a rinse. In folk medicine, rakija was recommended for treating everything from epilepsy to dandruff, from gout to muscle cramps, from acne to dysentery (Mihajlović 2007). At the turn of the 20th century, rakija had also been found used as a way of inducing sleep in fussy infants (Jovanović-Batut 1911).
In March 2019, a 98-year-old woman from Lika in Croatia, a region with a sizeable ethnic Serbian minority, was fined with 267€ for making her own rakija in her yard, and 54 liters of rakija were seized from her by the authorities. The news spread rapidly in Serbian online media (Politika 2019) and sparked an outrage on social networks The news was interpreted as an impact of the EU-influenced legislation on the older, more tolerant domestic laws. Domestic distilling, although being a non-authorized practice is highly tolerated and rarely fined practice in Serbia. Many rural households own an orchard and the distillation equipment and distillation of the rakija is considered as custom. The production ‘for own use’ is wide-spread in the country and tolerated by the authorities. The Serbian legislation about the high-proof distilled spirits recently changed. In the 2009 legislation (Zakon o rakiji i drugim alkoholnim pićima Sl.glasnik RS br. 41/2009) the law prohibited the sale and marketing of any alcohol not produced according to the national regulation. It fined all irregular, non-standardized production but it differentiated between rakija and other high-proof distilled spirits. In a later edition of the Law (Zakon o rakiji i drugim alkoholnim pićima Sl.glasnik RS br. 92/2015) this distinction was suspended and rakija has lost its special legal status.
References
Barjaktarović M. 1951. Od čega se i kako peče rakija u Banatu. Zbornik Matice Srpske. Serija Društvenih nauka 2. Novi Sad: Matica srpske pp. 119-121.
Dikić,S., Dikić, A. 2003. Kajsija uzme a bogato vrati : šta se mora poštovati i činiti u privlačnom izazovu: pečenju vrhunske kajsijevače : staro iskustvo: dobra vatra - dobra rakija. Svet pića. Godina VI, br. 15, maj 2003, pp.1-5.
Jovanović-Batut, M. 1911. Ne uspavljujte plašljivu odojčad otrovima ; Rakija kao lek. Zdravlje -Lekarske pouke o zdravlju i bolesti. Godina VI. br.1.pp 1-12.
Malović, I., Radoman, Z., Dulović, V. 2017. Rakija : ukus istorije, veština pravljenja, umetnost ispijanja. Beograd : Mladinska knjiga
Mrgić, J. Aqua vitae : notes on geographies of alcohol production and consumption in the Ottoman Balkans. Issues in Ethnology and Anthropology. Vol.12 Is.4. 2017.pp.-1309-1328.
Petrović, M. 1889. Proizvodnja rakije u našem narodu. Letopis Matice srpske. Sveska prva. Knjiga 157. & Sveska Druga. Knjiga 158. Novi Sad: Srpska Štamparija Dra.Svet.Miletića. pp.25-49. & 59-77.
Vukmanović, Lj. Vaskrs dudare : sirotinjska rakija ode u gospodsko piće: sad se flaša dudare menja za flašu viskija. Svet pića. Godina II, br. 3-4, decembar 1999, pp.31-34.
Vukmanović, Lj.2005. Mirisi sa gladnoša : retkost iz Sremskih Karlovaca: breskovača od sto sorti bresaka iz podruma Instituta za voćarstvo i vinogradarstvo. Svet pića. Godina VIII, br. 20-21, jun 2005, pp.24-25.
Politika. 2019. Carinici kaznili 98-godišnju staricu jer je pekla rakiju, Politika, 1 March, http://www.politika.rs/sr/clanak/423928/Carinici-kaznili-98-godisnju-staricu-jer-je-pekla-rakiju