Photos

For this idea about season food with thanks to our member Gix. :-)

This red plum of central Bosnia having red-orange fruit with yellow flesh. I know that people there makes Plum Jam which is prepared from fresh fruits grown on unpolluted soil, hand picked and selected. Jam is prepared according to the traditional recipes on large wood-burning stoves in huge open pots. The product is free from preservatives.

But, from this fruit peoples made also a nicely drink called RAKIJA! Wanna know how? Voila:

Rakija is strong alcoholic drink that represents this country. There is no translation of the word rakija so everyone is using that term. Someone is translating it like- brandy; but brandy is something else.

Rakija is produced only from fruits- plum (the best one), apple, apricot, pear, grape. They produce from the fruits that will grow there.
The "real" rakija is homemade. So people are making them in their homes, by the recipe that is very old and that is shared only inside the family.
In general, everyone is producing the same way, but the small differences are important!
First you have to collect the fruit. you can use the one on the tree (branch) and also the one that are falled down. it is important to use only mature fruit.
The people are collecting fruit in the late summer. Then thay wash and cut the fruit in small pieces and put the fruit into barrel and they close the barrel.
Fruits are kept in barell about a month or two. It depends on temperature, maturity of fruits...the fruits are having fermentation in barell.

You have to be experienced to know when is the right time to end a fermentation. after the fermentation, the fruit is put into one big (metal) reservoir.
There is fire under that reservoir so the fruit inside is cooking (boiling). The fruits are boiling in the bottom of reservoir and the steam is going up in higher levels of reservoir. On the top of the reservoir is one pipe, and the steam (from the boiling fruit) is going thru that pipe. In the pipe and in the top of the reservoir that steam is turning into the liquid. So the steam and the liquid are going thru the pipe in another smaller reservoir. There is only the liquid that is the result of the boiling (cooking) of the fruit from the previous reservoir. That chemical process is calling destilation. After the liquid is made it comes from the second reservoir in drops in the bottle. so it takes very long time because the final liquid is just dropping into the bottle. you need few hours to fill one bottle.
the remains from fruit (that was cooked) are taking from reservoir and wasting.
Rakija have no colour. But some people are putting the dry leafes (yellow) so that rakija is coming from the reservoir into the bottle thru leaves and it become yellow.
Rakija have specific, nice smell. It smells like the fruit that it is made of.

People respect the homemade because they are pure natural without any chemicals and stuffs...