Raki is an alcoholic drink produced by distillation of grape pomace. The word is Turkish, originated from the Arabic "arak" and variations of the same drink are popular all over the Balkans, Turkey and Iran, although each region has its own "recipe".
The first material is, of course, grapes which are squeezed by feet inside a built container. Most of the juice goes for wine-making while the rest along with the stems and the skins are kept into barrels for, at least, two months for brewing.
The distillation is done in wood fired copper alembics, usually on a field where there is a built base and a rough shelter (in case of rain). Or there is a more "modern" version (as the one you see in the pictures) that is burning crushed olive pits, instead of wood and there is a small building around it, instead of a rough shelter.
Since it takes all day long or many days, depending on the quantity of the stems and the capacity of the alembic, it is a great excuse for people to come over and have a small fiesta with plenty of food and fresh "raki".
The percentage of alcohol has to be monitored since in the beginning it is extremely high and inappropriate for consuming and at the end you have to stop the distillation before it gets too watery. I imagine that before alcohol-meters this part was done by experience or by tasting :)
After all although raki is not essential for survival, it is very important for the social life of the region and has been source of comfort for the population during a lot of stressful eras in the past.
All this procedure is part of our cultural legacy that tends to extinct. Today we use words like homesteading or self sufficiency but until World War II it was just life. All over Greece (and in many other countries too) people were farming, foraging or hunting for their food, they were building their homes with the materials they could find on the spot and were making by themselves most of the things they needed. Almost 2/3 of a century later a lot of people (including me) are making the choice to turn their backs to urban life and seek a different way of living but the knowledge of self sufficiency has faded away. A few fragments of it can be found in the memories of the elders while tradition has preserve some others.
I'll wrap it up with a few details to give you a better feeling of the mood and a couple of shots outside of the distillation room. The boiled stems and skins will go to the fields as fertilizer and the fresh raki home for consumption!
This post contains parts from this one, that I wrote in 2018 and that one from 2019 so I'll use the #showcasesunday tag, an initiative of @nonameslefttouse meant to revive old and potentially undervalued posts.
The pictures have been used in 2019's post in b&w edit but I think I like them more in color in those new edits.
Thank you for reading and if you want to know more about me you can check out my introduction post.
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Superb images!
Thank you very much!
that's a good series mate! Nice atmosphere in the pictures!
Thanks a lot :)
Fascinating. I agree; it was about survival. All these years later we use words that sound so attractive but was is the return to the ancient way our forefathers and mothers survived
Wow interesting post- I love the textures and colours of the photos- Gives a real sense of the space and somehow conveys a bit of the history of the place too. Fascinating to get a bit of an insight into an important social and cultural practise. Especially the points about how resource savvy the process is- from recycled olive pips to using the spent grape skins to feed the fields. Thanks for sharing!