Not long ago, in early April of this year, I was working on a book published in 1865—*The History of the Imperial Free Economic Society from 1765 to 1865*.
Chapter IX, “The Society’s Diverse Areas of Activity,” included a separate section on distilling. Naturally, the development of this vital branch of the agricultural industry was of great concern to the members of the organization. For this reason, for example, in 1796 the Society considered an important issue
Up to how many buckets of wine can be produced from an eight-puda quarter of bread so that it meets the prescribed standards, is free of any odor uncharacteristic of wine, and—when consumed in moderation—is not harmful to human health?
In that same section, I came across a very interesting story related to our city.
In 1819, member V. Dzhunkovsky sent a description from Kharkiv of a method for preparing Ukrainian balsam, which was in no way inferior to Riga balsam in color, taste, or quality.
However, the recipe for this Kharkiv miracle potion, which had earned such high praise, was, alas, not included in the book. All that remained was to find it. In the end, as the saying goes, “patience and hard work conquer all,” and after a long and persistent search, it was found on July 12 of this year. But before sharing it with all lovers of Kharkiv, I would very much like to mention the author of the recipe.
Born in 1767 into a priest’s family in the town of Lebedyn, Vasily Yakovlevich Dzhunkovsky was an exceptionally vibrant and extraordinary individual. After graduating from the Kharkiv Collegium in 1788, he enlisted as a volunteer at the St. Petersburg Military Hospital. In 1790, Dzhunkovsky was appointed a lecturer in Russian, Latin, and Greek at the Medical-Surgical Institute. Beginning in 1795, he also worked as a translator—not just anywhere, but at the Medical Collegium. When the Medical-Surgical Institute was transformed into an academy in 1802, Vasily Yakovlevich became its librarian. Then, in 1804, he headed the archives of the Medical Board and served as a translator for the Medical Council and a proofreader for the medical printing house. In 1808, Dzhunkovsky was elected a member of the Free Economic Society, with which we are familiar. By 1813, he was already a correspondent for the Medical Council under the Ministry of Public Education. In 1818, Vasily Yakovlevich returned once again to our beloved city. Indeed, upon the recommendation of the trustee of the Kharkiv Educational District, the Council of Kharkiv University elected Dzhunkovsky as a full professor of Greek literature. That same year, Dzhunkovsky became dean of the Department of Humanities within the Faculty of Philosophy and also headed the Department of Agriculture.
In 1820, he was elected vice-rector. From 1821 until his death in 1826, he served as rector of the Imperial University of Kharkiv.
This extraordinarily erudite and versatile native of Sloboda Ukraine was the author and translator of works on medicine, veterinary science, and agriculture.
In 1823, he became one of the initiators of the publication of the “Ukrainian Journal” at Kharkiv University. In 1824, he compiled the “Catalog of Books in the Library of the Imperial University of Kharkiv,” which became the foundation for all subsequent systematic catalogs of the university library. The subject matter of Vasily Yakovlevich’s works for the “Imperial Free Economic Society”—which we are already familiar with—deserves special attention.
One of the main goals of this organization was to study agriculture and the economic conditions of the country, as well as to disseminate information useful to agriculture.
— A Practical Guide to Raising Spanish Sheep.
— A Guide to Making Earthenware, with an attached diagram of an English draft kiln.
— A Guide, Based on Reliable Experiments, on How to Make Berlin Glaze.
— A method for preparing ultramarine pigment.
— On truffles.
— On various kinds of soap manufactured in foreign countries.
Naturally, such an exceptional man could not have failed to take an interest in distillation.
It is precisely thanks to the publications of the Imperial Free Economic Society in its 1819 issue that we can learn the most detailed method for preparing this quintessentially Kharkiv miracle drink called “Ukrainian Balsam,” which, as its inventor himself noted, is in no way inferior to Riga Balsam in color, taste, and quality.
For a three-bucket measure, take:
Mint flowers (Flores menthae)
— sage (— — Salviae)
— hyssop (— — hyssope)
— lavender (— — Lavendulae)
— yarrow (Note: one of the names for common yarrow) ( — — Millefolii).
Half a pound of each; if the flowers are in short supply, the herb may be used instead.
Half a pound of angelica root (Radix Angelicae).
― Roman chamomile (Camomillae Romanae), a quarter pound.
― Levisric root (Rad. Levisrici), two lots.
— Aromatic calamus (Calami aromatici), two lots.
― Cloves (largophylli aromatici), half a lot.
― Nutmeg (Macis moshatae), half a lot.Put all of this into a tub and pour in two and a half buckets of sparkling wine; let it stand for a day, then transfer all the herbs from the tub to a three-bucket-capacity cask, and pour in the same sparkling wine that has been infused, adding a piece of fresh beef and a handful of table salt to eliminate the unpleasant odor in the sparkling wine; Finely grind the nutmeg and place it together with the cloves in a glass, letting it stand for a day as well; and when the herbs and sparkling wine have been transferred from the tub to the cube, then pour the vodka with the nutmeg and cloves from the glass into the cube, and at the same time double the volume, which yields this excellent balm. It should be noted, however, that no more than thirteen quarts of this fine, genuine balm can be obtained from the aforementioned quantity of wine: for the fourteenth quart and those that follow will already have a burnt taste, and consequently, an unpleasant smell and taste; therefore, this balsam should be distilled only until it no longer has a bad smell, and to give it a yellow color, grind a small amount of yellow ginger (about the size of a walnut), tie it in a thin cloth, and place it under the tube from which the balsam flows. This balm is drunk instead of ordinary vodka before dinner—either neat or diluted with water. It is also said to have medicinal properties, particularly in the healing of fresh wounds.
Time has passed, and the recipe for “Ukrainian Balm”—which, I am certain, could have become one of Kharkiv’s highlights—as well as Vasily Yakovlevich Dzhunkovsky’s enormous contribution to the Economic Society’s activities have been forgotten. However, it is extremely gratifying that in 2008, based on archival documents, Nina Mikhailovna Berezyuk’s excellent monograph, “The Unknown V. Ya. Dzhunkovsky: Rector of Kharkiv University, 1821–1826,” was published based on archival documents.
Thanks to her, we can learn about other areas of this truly great Slobozhanin’s life.
