(Not) making moonshine.

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We're using these to make apple vinegar. Or apple cake. Maybe applesauce.

There's a passage in the book where I try desperately to get the village recipe for rakija, the clear-as-water Mrkopalj moonshine that, toward the end of our stay, kick-started my days with my neighbor ladies. (Don't judge. It's purely a digestive.)

No one would give me that recipe. And seriously? We talked about everything together. Everything–except for that recipe. I only knew that in Mrkopalj, it was made from apples. And it tasted like fruity paint thinner. And, as Baka Ana assured me, "Rakija helps a mother through the days."

So, it's been driving me nuts, during peak apple season here in Iowa, that I don't have that rakija recipe.

But there sure is a lot of information on the Internet about making fruit brandy.

It's really not all that hard.

Though, it being a federal offense at all, I would certainly not make it.

Still, it gets a woman wondering. And there sure are a lot of apples around here. …

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