Rachiu de fructe

Rachiu is the traditional spirit of Moldova, a strong distillate made from fermented fruit, never absent from country households and from celebration tables. Clear as water or faintly yellow, with a considerable strength and a powerful fruit aroma, rachiu is the drink with which guests are honoured and life's most important moments are marked, from christenings and weddings to memorial feasts.

How it is made

Rachiu is obtained by distilling fermented fruit. The most widespread raw material is plums, which give the renowned plum rachiu, but apples, pears, apricots, sour cherries, quinces and grapes are also used. The ripe fruit is crushed and left to ferment in barrels for weeks on end, until its sugar turns into alcohol, forming the mash.

Then comes distillation, carried out in traditional copper stills known as cazane. The mash is boiled and the alcohol vapours condense and collect as distillate. Often a second distillation is made in order to obtain a cleaner and stronger drink. Distilling rachiu is a craft that demands experience, since the distiller's skill determines the quality and purity of the drink: he must know how to separate the first and last drops, which are less clean, from the good middle portion. Grape rachiu, made from pomace or from wine, is related to other vine distillates of the region, while plum rachiu remains the most prized and most widespread of them all.

When it is drunk and its cultural role

Rachiu is the drink of hospitality par excellence. A small glass of rachiu is offered to guests on arrival, as a sign of welcome, and accompanies festive meals from one end to the other. It is a fixture at weddings, christenings, christening parties, funerals and memorial meals, with a well-established role in the social rituals of the Moldovan village.

Beyond its function as a drink, home-made rachiu is a matter of pride for every householder, who makes his own distillate according to inherited recipes and secrets. To have good rachiu in the cellar means being able to receive any guest as one should. Rachiu heated with honey and pepper is also used, in the cold winters, as a remedy against colds, which adds one more dimension to its place in Moldovan popular culture.