Spirited Serbian Fruit

The word 'arak' is of ancient Indian origin and has appeared in similar form in various regions from India to the Balkans. You may taste rakija in bars, buy it in church shops in downtown Belgrade, but also in coffeehouses, restaurants, hotels and rural households or monasteries throughout Serbia.

By Vanja Savić
Photo by Aleksandar Anđić

Up until the 19^th century, Serbia used to be a land of wine. This may clearly be inferred from Serbian orally-transmitted folk poetry as well as written sources. Although rakija ('al-arak', in Arabic) arrived with the Turks as early as the 14^th century, it has only been since the First Serbian Uprising in 1804, when the Phylooxera epidemic destroyed numerous grape vines, that the Serbs turned to manufacturing and enjoying the 'spirited Serbian fruit' on a more massive scale.

Always welcome, a guest may discern his host's disposal precisely by the way rakija and accompanying snacks that complement its taste are offered to him. In Serbian tradition, toasts are something that are inseparable from rakija drinking. Toasts in Serbia are recited to honour the host or during slava (Patron Saint Day), weddings, and other formal occasions, as the first, and even second or third glass of rakija is had. And while today one most often simply says "Živeli!" (To Your Health!), one can still hear such elaborate toasts as this one:

"To your health, brother, to your health! To the health of this honourable gathering and these honourable people! Whoever set this table, may he be honoured! May God give whoever set it this year, set it next year, too, in all its fullness and honour, happiness and wealth, and many summers to come, and let all this be so through his life and his children's after that; let him, God willing, set it as is proper from head down and equally spread, rich and full, happy and honourable! And may ye sit at it in honour and rise from it in honour! May God help you sitting down and getting up and may you always come to sit at a place allowing you to rise easily! And when this little glass and this toast reaches you, drink up sitting down and drink up standing up, to your health, your health!"

Genuine homemade rakija made from grapes, apricots, quince, raspberry, apples, pears, plums, as well as from other fruits is recognisable for its clarity, purity and aroma and must remind the drinker solely of the particular fruit from which it was made in copper stills and distilled twice over. It must flow down your throat smoothly as you drink it, and only begin to burn as it reaches the stomach.

According to Branko Nešić, promoter and distributor of the best Serbian rakijas and organiser of the Rakija-Fest event held in Belgrade each September, the manner of serving a rakija depends on the fruit from which it is made. Loza (made from grapes) is served chilled along with olives, cherry tomatoes and feta cheese. One need differentiate between komovica (made from grape pomace) and loza, as the two types of spirits made from grapes. The former - supplemented with certain herbs - is for the most part used in Serbia as medication. Pelinkovac or true stomaklija are beneficial for stomach trouble, while lincura is used against gout. Lozovača (rakija made from grapes) produced in Morocco or Greece has a sweetish taste. It is also called aniseta, as anise is added to it. One such spirit is ouzo, a drink renowned the world over, a spirit that is not actually of the loza category (although ultimately derived from grapes as well).

Kajsijevača (made from apricots) and dunjevača (from quince) are traditional types of rakija in Serbia. However, owing to their high price – their production is costly today still – they are for the most part less popular. Kajsijevača is served from wide-bottom narrow-top glasses, so that the fullbodied aroma may be sampled as one drinks it. The best quince brandy is made in the Leskovac region from female quince, as male quince yields no drink. It is served not as chilled as loza, along with quince preserve and with walnuts and bits of hard cheese.

Any rakija, apart from the famous Serbian šljivovica (made from plums - slivovitz) is at its best if graded between 40 and 45 degrees of alcohol. Plum brandy is made to fit the 45-50 percent alcoholic strength. It is served in shot glasses, the so-called čokanjčići, along with smoked ham and hard cheese. There are over 80 different-types of this rakija in Serbia.

In the village called Šljivovica, at the foot of Mt. Zlatibor, they say the world recognised their rakija as early as in 1868, when a Serbian government decree protected and branded this spirit. Rakija, they say, made according to the same or similar recipe, is made everywhere in the world, but all these different technologies are to no avail as they are no match for the 'ambrosia' made here.

- There are some 600 households that make Šljivovica and there is not one with fewer than 50 plum trees. When there's a good year and a bumper crop of our 'blue gold', at least 100 liters is made per household, they say in this village and add that the stronger the brandy, done twice or more times over, it gains in quality as its acidity drops and taste improves. It is best kept in oak and mulberry wood casks. The older, the better. Best drank chilled.

Various other kinds of rakija such as orahovača (with walnuts) or medovača (with honey) are actually different type of spirits. In addition to the few villagers well-versed in making these two spirits and professional manufacturers who are still rarer, the best brandies made with walnuts and honey are those produced at Serbian monasteries. The secret ingredient of monastery-produced rakija is known only to a small number of monks whose ascetic way of life and the very act of making it imbue this spirit with special taste. One can hardly get seriously drunk on genuine and pure orahovača or medovača. They, too, are served in čokanjčići, at room temperature, along with walnuts, hazelnuts or boiled wheat. And, providing you are able to refrain from taking the third glass... to your health!