#visinata

Please welcome writer @carryonvisinata to the Golden Days zine! Here is a preview of her piece—it might leave you speechless, 😉

Visinata stumbled into the Carry On fandom five years ago and has yet to find her way back out. Not that she’s trying very hard.

Visinata de casa. Reteta pentru cea mai bună vișinată făcută în casă

Visinata de casa este cea mai populară băutură din România, reteta fiind ușor de preparat, iar rezultatul unul savuros, atât pentru femei cât și pentru bărbați. Cum este sezonul vișinelor, vă propunem o rețetă de vișinată cu care veți da gata musafirii.

Desi este simplu de realizat, visinata de casa se prepara in etape si va fi bună de băut după 10 săptămâni.

Ingrediente pentru visinata de casa,…

Day 31 - Vișinată, Wine, Brandy, and Cognac

Since Moldova is a great place to grow fruit it has a long tradition of making very tasty drinks from the harvest.  From big distilleries and wineries to homemade wine and brandy, you are never far from a drink in Moldova.

Part of being a good host in Moldova is sharing your house wine or prefered drink.  Nearly every family I have met grow or buy grapes and make homemade wine each fall.  They keep it in their cellars and will fill a pitcher or bottle when guests arrive.  

My favorite homemade drink is pictured above.  Our host family, Irina and Alexi, make vișinată (vee-shee-nah-tuh) which is a cherry brandy made from sour cherries.  It's one of the tastiest things I've every drank.  I only have this one blurry photo of it because it's hard to remember to take out your camera/phone when this wonderful elixir is waiting for you.

The beverage industry is thriving in Moldova.  There are large wineries like Cricova and Milestii Mici who produce good wine and offer quality tours and tastings.  Milestii Mici holds the world record for largest collection of wine in their cellars.  There are also smaller quality wineries that people love to tour like Pucari and the recently opened Mimi Castle.  Unique to Moldova and parts of Romania are local varieties of grapes that make a wine with a local flavor.  My favorite is feteasca neagra, which translates to black maiden and makes a wine that is often a little dry and a little sweet at the same time.

In addition to wine, there are good distilleries in Moldova.  Cognac, called divin in Romanian,  is popular and is very well made. Kvint and Călărași are two popular brands.

If wine and cognac are not your preferred drink, Moldova has a few beer breweries.  The largest brand is named after the capital, Chișinău.  This company also brews several beers for other manufacturers.  Microbreweries are starting to appear such as the popular Litra.  Brands from around the world are aso often brewed in Moldova including my new favorite Russian beer,  Жигулёвское ( Zhigulevskoye  ). 

And if drinking alcohol is not something you do Moldova can supply you with endless liters of locally made fruit juice or homemade kompot.

Even if you can't get to Moldova, try to find a bottle of Moldovan beverages, raise a glass with friends and say 'sanătate' (health!)