Posted on: 15 September 2012

Audio:
The Traditional Liquors of India
Former journalist and wildlife campaigner ANIRUDDHA MOOKHERJEE is a man on an unusual mission -- mapping, studying and understanding the traditional liquors of India. Here he talks with FREDERICK NORONHA about his study which he plans to work into a book. Interviewed at Saligao, Goa, on a windy May 15, 2012 afternoon in the midst of this summer.

Listen to this interview:

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Image:
Paintings; Watercolour on English paper, A Toddy-Tapper, Madras, ca. 1785

This is a page from the Boileau Album. The album contains 42 Company paintings and was probably the work of an artist from Thanjavur (Tanjore) living in Madras. Painting in Madras at this early period appears to have been linked mainly to individual patrons. John Peter Boileau, whose ancestors were French, served as a member of the Madras Civil Service from 1765 to 1785. He probably commissioned the album to take back home to England when he retired. This picture shows a toddy-tapper at work. The English word 'toddy' derives from Hindi tari, meaning the fermented sap of the tar or palmyra and also of other palms, such as the date and the coco-palm. In India toddy, in addition to its alcoholic uses, is employed as yeast for leavening bread and is obtained from the tree by climbing it, puncturing it and then allowing the white juice to trickle down into a jar or pitcher.

Copyright: © V&A Images


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Toddy tapping is done early in the morning and the juice is collected in pots which takes a while to fill. Fresh toddy is an amazing drink and utterly refreshing. It becomes alcoholic by mid-morning when it begins to ferment of its own accord. It smells like hell then, but the high it gives (and the bang per buck) is worth the experience. Many households in coastal Maharashtra sell toddy to the fastidious early morning traveler. In contrast, "Neera", another palm-product is a gentleman's drink, for those who consider drinking alcohol a sin. (With due apology to Alcoholic Anonymous).