A popular alcoholic drink was known in the XVII century, although it was originally conceived as a medicine. It was under the guise of a healing drink that balm was offered to Empress Catherine II. The Russian merchant Lelyukhin, who also managed to try the drink, bought a recipe from his German creator and began mass production.
And already from the end of the 18th century, about 300 thousand ceramic bottles filled with a fragrant drink began to be sold annually in Russia. Riga black balm is produced at a factory that was built back in 1900. During World War II, the recipe was almost lost, but in the 1950s. Thanks to the efforts of the company's technologists, the composition was still able to be revived.
Production technology
Riga balms have a special recipe: they contain as many as 24 ingredients, and most of them are herbs. The list of plant components included in the composition has long been known, but the proportions are still kept secret. Most of the components are local, but there are components brought from afar, for example, balsamic oil. The drink is infused in birch barrels for as long as 30 days. After that, Riga balms become a reddish liquid with a high alcohol content. A concentrated drink gets into the bottles; several huge 300-liter barrels are able to fill almost 3 million bottles annually.
A half-finished drink is supplemented with alcohol, burnt sugar, juices, brandy, after which its characteristic color appears. After bottling, the drink is infused for another six months in a ceramic bowl, which protects the contents from sunlight and sudden temperature changes.
Subtleties of use
It is appropriate to add Riga balms to coffee or just drink with it. If you add a small amount of an alcoholic drink to tea, you get a kind of grog. Best of all, the balm is “revealed” in hot drinks, because its recipe was invented in a cold country. But even in hot weather, a pile of Riga balsam with blackcurrant juice and ice bite with a delicious ball of ice cream will be a real discovery for gourmets.
Drink properties
A large number of components is a feature of the drink: Riga balsams are saturated with minerals, organic acids, carbohydrates, fats, proteins, glucosides, etc. Balm helps to cope with overwork, fatigue after exertion. As a means to stimulate appetite, balm is used before meals.
It is also recommended for calming the body during nervous excitability and for sleep disorders. But a rich composition can be dangerous for people prone to allergies - before use, you need to make sure that the human body does not react to any of the components.
Cost
Do not even ponder the question of whether it is worth replenishing your collection of alcohol with such a worthy specimen as Riga Balsam: the price will pleasantly surprise you. This amazing drink is presented in stores at an affordable cost - a half-liter bottle costs only about 700 rubles.