I would be interested to know if there are any other beverages that are native to India besides teas? India's spices have such a unique taste. I would love to know if there are any other flavorful drinks I've been missing out on?
Off the top of my head, there are great native Indian drinks that you can find imported in US health food stores. I feel that it would be a great primer for trying the real thing once you travel to India. For starters, who can forget coconut water? I keep reading about all of the health benefits of drinking pure extracted coconut water from India. It's supposed to help with blood pressure, weight control, and have great cooling effect / dehydration control in the summer. The kind I've tasted faintly reminds me of frosted flakes lol, but it's still great. Non-nursing mothers also use it to mix with baby formulas to make sure their babies get a better start. Other drinks I can think of are sugarcane juice, and it doesn't get more ancient and authentic than that. I know women who can't drink high fructose based soft drinks in the USA anymore after trying Indian sugarcane juice. You should also look into milk-based Indian drinks like Lassi, which has a great spice flavor (for a comparison, it's a little similar to a horchata in the southwest USA). Many native Indian fruits are also turned into juice, like Indian gooseberry or Indian mango. I'm a bit of a health nut, so I think about this stuff all of the time lol. India has some great health foods and I can't wait to get the real thing in person.
Sugarcane juice sounds quite interesting. However, I can only imagine it to be sweet, without much flavor at all. I could be wrong about that, though.
Can somebody tell me more about Lassi ? I read somewhere it is a type of yoghurt with spices. So, what spices, what is the taste and texture? I have no way to try this here in Serbia and I will not yet go to India. Falooda is also an interesting one from what I read. So the same question for that one. From alcohol (maybe) beverages I would like to know more about Aam Panna. I like Mango and I think it is made from it so that is why I ask. If someone have some more suggestions like these please let us know here.
I'm not from India, but we used to have sugarcane fields where I live, so we had fresh sugarcane juice quite often. They'd strip the stalk of its hard, green (sometimes light brown) outer layer, until the off-white "meat" (sorry, I don't know what to call it, haha) appears. Then they'd divide that into several sections, removing the tough "joints" (again, don't know what it's called! ) with each section measuring around 5 inches in length. My mother used to chop those up into thin strips then put them in the refrigerator. When they're cold enough, gnaw on the strips to make the juice come out. And - here's the only part you're probably interested in, haha - it tastes sweet and fresh. There's really nothing quite like it. The flavor is not intense, yes, but it's very refreshing.
Honestly to me it just tastes like a mango smoothie, for the most part! As for the spices in it, since I've never made it myself I'm not 100% sure the exact blend that goes into it, but I believe part of it is cardamom and nutmeg (similar to a chai tea, I think!)
