Visiting Sri Lanka , kerala and Goa in a single trip makes you aware of the culinary common threads that cut across political boundaries and of a natural resource that has been sacredly utilized for centuries “coconut palm”, of the many bounties that it has to offer , one can write a book . Today we will just talk about toddy.
Unfortunately ,Outside of the regions where it is consumed toddy is a very misunderstood drink and ingredient associated with village drunkards and incidents of methanol poisoning .Yet seeing it up close and personal one realizes that its just a case of us humans overdrawing and misutilizing what nature has has given us .
The legend of toddy starts very early in the morning with toddy tappers deftly climbing trees to collect the sap that has been drawn overnight into earthen pots, shaving off the bud and sealing it with black clay all this is achieved in a minute and a half per tree, deftness and experience at its best . a toddy tapper tends to between 60 and a 100 trees every morning .
“neera” or the sap that gets collected if drunk immediately has no Alcohol .It stays well in the refrigerator for a day if lemon Juice is added to prevent fermentation . From the trees it goes to the Toddy shops or the place where I am taking you, the kitchen!
Actually let’s take the toddy to Goa and into the Kitchens of Jack Pilerne , a 74 Year old Portugese Goan and yet another deft and experienced culinary artist . Jack has an amazing sense of precision and perfection when it comes to cooking and all things food. From making toddy fermented jaggery cakes to “sannas” the Goan morning bread Jack shows a keen dedication to following the recipes to the T. The reason ?, it’s the only way to make food “smile at you” he says , we cooked a lot of happy food together but what I really loved came last , the art of making toddy vinegar , in the typical “suraahi” like vessel where toddy is left to ferment for a day and then two “one inch” pieces of red hot brick tiles (not 1 mm bigger or smaller as per Jack ) are dropped into the vessel and its sealed and left for six months to get premium Goan toddy Vinegar that is the base for almost all Goan Portuguese Masalas .
Toddy was the wine of Ancient India and has been used in cooking forever, it means a lot of things to a lot of people, but after this trip, to me it means deftness, precision and love.. after all treating people nicely and the way they should be treated makes them smile at you ,why not treat food the same way . Thanks Jack
Next time you go to kerala grab the Non Alcoholic morning nectar and try this drink
“neer” Orangine
Toddy nectar (non Alcoholic) 100 ml
Orange Juice pulpy 70 ml
Orange Pulp ½ cup
Sunza seeds soaked 1tsp (optional)
Mix all ingredients and serve chilled
You could try this with watermelon juice and muddled watermelon for a perfect summer cooler
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Liked this write up…. as a kid I used to get a bit of toddy to drink …we kids got the non alcoholic stuff ….however even the kall with a bit of zing was sooo tasty …. my cousins would help pinch it from our Mamaji's place and we would pretend to get drunk on itsy bitsy amounts 🙂 in Assam I had lau pani and it was different and nice ….however toddy is really nice ….we mallus use it to make appams called hoppers in English …