Moonshine
Moonshine is a homemade strong alcoholic beverage. Moonshine is a cooled vapor of ethyl alcohol, which is released during heating and prolonged boiling of the alcohol-containing mass. The alcohol-containing mass (mash) for the preparation of this alcoholic drink is obtained by fermentation of potatoes, beets, sugar, cereals and other products, which contain sugar or saccharified starch components.
The history of the appearance of moonshine
Initially, moonshine was not an intoxicating drink, but a medicinal infusion. In this sense, moonshine vodka is described in the Novgorod Chronicle of 1533. At that time, four varieties of moonshine were produced in Russia: "borskoe wine" (a premium drink), "double wine" (moonshine vodka of special strength), "good wine" and "simple wine". Russian moonshine at the beginning of the nineteenth century was superior in quality to French cognac and English whiskey. This drink at that time was much more expensive than gold. Each noble estate had its own methods of making moonshine. Moonshine of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was personal and did not have a commercial character.
It was with this drink that the first tavern was opened near the Moscow Kremlin. Only the oprichniks ("royal dogs") were allowed to visit it. At that time, for heroic deeds, they were awarded not with orders, but with the so-called royal ladle. The owner of such an award anywhere could drink as much moonshine as he could scoop into the ladle at a time.
Moonshine composition
To make moonshine vodka, raw materials are required. The composition of the drink, first of all, depends on the availability of raw materials in each specific region. Depending on the components, the following types of moonshine are divided: fruit or fruit and berry, potato, beetroot, grain. In addition to the main ingredient used to make the mash, homemade vodka contains water, sugar and candied starch. In the preparation of moonshine, sourdough in the form of yeast is also used.
100 grams of moonshine vodka contains 33.3 g of alcohol, 66 g of water, 0.1 g of ash, 0.1 g of mono-and disaccharides, 1 mg of potassium, 1 mg of calcium and 10 mg of sodium.
Types of moonshine
In the world drinking tradition, the following types of moonshine are distinguished: moonshine - American home-made vodka, chichi casera - moonshine made in Latin America, Schwarzgebranntes - German moonshine drink, Samogon or Bimber - Polish moonshine. The people of France have come up with their own way of making moonshine called tord-boyaux. Latvians call this strong drink kandza, and Lithuanians call it samogonas.
The benefits of moonshine
Some connoisseurs of the drink argue that there are real benefits to homemade vodka made according to old family recipes. It is believed that only 40-50 grams of moonshine with pepper will help to avoid colds. In folk medicine, there are many recipes for moonshine compresses and rubbing at elevated body temperatures, joint pains, colds.
In 1951, the American professor of cardiology White in the list of the best heart drugs put alcohol in second place after the drugs of the nitroglycerin series. According to American doctors, regular and moderate consumption of alcohol, including moonshine, helps to strengthen the cardiovascular system, protects the walls of blood vessels from atherosclerotic lesions, and significantly reduces the risk of arthritis. Alcohol reduces the concentration of harmful cholesterol in the blood plasma, increases the diameter of the coronary vessels and blocks their spasms, and also helps to reduce blood clotting.
Moonshine harm
However, the harm of moonshine to the human body is more obvious than the benefits. As a result of the distillation of the alcohol-containing mass, the so-called crude alcohol is formed, which contains a significant amount of by-components (fusel oil, methanol) that cause irreversible persistent changes in the human body.
The composition of fusel oil contains toxic impurities - isoamyl, isopropyl alcohols and ethyl acetate. This oil causes seizures, inhibits cellular respiration and damages the central nervous system. If all the toxic properties of ethyl alcohol are taken as a unit, then for a given type of oil this value is nineteen.
Isoamyl alcohol is especially poisonous. When this alcohol gets on the skin, a burning sensation occurs, blisters form. Amyl alcohol inhibits the activity of the brain, and isopropyl and propyl alcohols significantly inhibit the carbohydrate function of the liver.
Moonshine causes considerable harm to the mucous membrane of the gastrointestinal tract. With the systematic use of this drink in large quantities, the membrane becomes thinner, which can lead to stomach bleeding and peptic ulcer disease. The liver, when neutralizing the body from poison, is exposed to a significant load, therefore, the risk of developing cirrhosis of its cells increases.
Excessive use of moonshine reduces the body's defenses and contributes to the occurrence of infectious diseases - tuberculosis, lung abscess, bronchiectasis.
The intoxication caused by homemade vodka comes on very quickly, almost instantly, and lasts a very long time. The clouding of consciousness that occurs with arousal turns into a heavy sleep with a headache upon awakening.
Moonshine preparation methods
During its long history, moonshine has been made in various ways. Until our time, the so-called "artisanal or homemade moonshine", made on a home-made apparatus, has remained popular. There is also an industrial production of this alcoholic beverage. However, it is believed that industrial moonshine vodka cannot compare in taste and quality with its artisanal counterparts.
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