INDIA’S TODDY.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, 17 July 1930, Page 16

INDIA’S TODDY.

HOW IT IS Cr.LECTED AND MANUFACTURED. In India toddy is obtained from the various kinds of nut-bearing palm trees including the coconut palm. The j flowers of all these trees grow, like the j leaves, from the very top of the tall tree trunks, and develop w T ithin a covering or spathe, smooth and pli- | able, but tough as bark or stout can- ; vas. This spathe is one or two feet in j length, and is shaped li&e the ••Cornet” j in which our children are served with ; ice cream. Before the flower bursts | forth an expert toddy-drawer climbs ; the tree and, if the flower is sufficient- j ly matured treats the pointed end of the spathe with lime and binds it up j with rags. After a day or two, when j the lime has had time to take effect. ! he climbs the tree again, unties the j rags, and shaves off the end of the j spathe and of the flower with a sharp knife . He then ties an earthenware pot to the spathe. Into this pot a light brown juice begins to drip slowly j from the wounded flower. The juice j in the pot is usually collected each j morning. If it is collected whilst it is | fresh it is a clear, almost golden liquid ! with a sw r eet flavour, most pleasing to the palate and very refreshing to drink. For the earthenware pot being somewhat porous, evaporation takes place and makes the contents delightfully cool. This is “sweet toddy.” It is. of course, non-intoxicating, being unfermented, and is used by the people to make “jaggery,” a kind of soft brown sugar produced by boiling. Jaggery is the base of most of the Indian sweetmeats.

If, however, the sweet toddy is kept, for a couple of days it ferments. This fermentation can be hastened if a certain kind of bark is placed in the bottom of the pot in which the toddy is collected. It is then a milky-look-rg liquor, sourish in taste, though a>t so sour as some of our draught -uders, and of the potency of light lager. When an Indian stops at a wayside tavern and asks for' toddv he is served with a glass or mug of this fermented liquor. The drawing of fermented toddy and its sale are controlled by the Govern- j ment, and the license fees and excise j duties are a prolifiic source of revenue ; It is usual to set apart groves of coconut trees for the purpose of toddv- J drawing, and to connect their tops bv j ~ system of ropes along which the : *oddy-drawers walk from tree to tree ; without the need for descending to the . ground until their round is finished. 1 'Hie life of a toddv drawer is not. with- | «ut its elements of danger. He climbs | the tree by clasping its smooth stem i vith his hands and with the soles o f | bis feet, the feet being encircled by a j rope ring, which holds them together j ~s the soles press against the ■ •■rank. He proceeds by sliding upward* j brst his feet and then his hands, with i m action like that of a “monkey on a tick,” and it is surprising how rapid l -** le reaches the top. Once there h° first of all lowers the full pot by a rope to the ground, where its contents are ■emptied into a barrel; then he shave® - fresh strip from the end of tb~ pathe, draws up the empty pot, and replaces it in position to catch the uice again. He then passes along the apeway, which usually consists of cr?e ope for his feet and two for his hands intil he reaches the next tree, wher* he process is repeated. A loose branch r a rotted rope, and down he fall? •fty or sixty feet, to be badly, if not atally, injured. large proportion of the fermented oddy is taken to the distilleries, where ’< is distilled into the powerful spirit mown as arrack. This spirit has r nost exciting effect, and it said to b' •esponsible for many of the crimes o' riolence committed by Indians. According to the strictest tenets of he Indian religions, whether Hindu sm, Buddhism, or Mohammedanism, .he use of intoxicating liquors is foridden to the truly devout. This i. erhaps the explanation of the recent picketing of taverns and attempts to ej' down groves of toddy palms. India i ould be a land of Prohibition, but in this matter the idealists have to reckon .1 )t only with Western civilisation, but vi.h human nature, which, after all. ia very much the same in Western and Oriental.