CURIOUS DRINKS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5686, 3 October 1896, Page 2

CURIOUS DRINKS.

(<?. Clarl:e fluttall, B.Sc, in Chanibers's Journal.) Many a man hardly knows the- taste of cold water, and never lets a drop pass his lips from one year's end to another, although he may not venture to echo the bold assertion of . the Mongolians, that "plain- water has a malignant influence, and ought on no account to be drunk." With the modern beverages of civilisation — tea* coffee;' cocoa, aerated waters, ' wines, spirits, beer, &c.-7everyone is familiar, at least in name, but the question arisesiwhat do men drink who are outside the pale of these beverages ; what substitutes have they found for water pure and simple? A little peering into the more unfrequented by-ways of earth reveals many curious and interesting drinks, some of which are here enumerated. ' '■ ■'■■■'■ ■■ The Hindus make a highly esteemed beverage from the milky flnid contained in. the climbing bindweed, oue of the asclepias. Their method is to carefully squeeze out the latex of the plant, and then induce a process of fermentation by allowing it to stand. This beverage is claimed as the original intoxicant of the human race, and the predecessor of the vine, so great an ancestry has it. Under the name of soroa, hymns to its praise occupy a large part of the sacred writings of the Brahmins, and they exalt it into a mighty god who can give new strength and vigour to his devotees, a claim resting on the exhilarating effect it produces on mankind. It is still regarded as sacred, and at A GREAT ANNUAL FESTIVAL ! libations are poured out . to Soma, whose boundless powers extend evenio the granting of immortality. The ancient Persians also revered it as Haoma. In certain parts of the world we find the sap of trees pressed into requisition as a satisfier of thirst. Thus pulque, the favourite drink of the Mexicans, is the sap of the maguGy or false aloe (agave). When the plant is on the point of flowering, and all. its be3t energy is, directed to flower production, the Mexican cuts and hollows out the flower-stalk, so that, the sweet, sugary sap, on its way to feed the bud, is arrested and caught in the hollow. By standing it ferments slightly, and thus is formed a most agreeable beverage. A somewhat different drink, known as tepache, is made by mixing sugar and water with the inaguey sap, and allowing the mixture to ferment for a few hours. Those natives of Mexico whose tastes demand something rather stronger and more pungent, allow the fermentation of the sap to go on for a longer time until it becomes acid and almost putrid. The sap of trees, flowing in a steady current from roots to leaves and flowers, and bearing with it the nourishment the plant has elaborated for its own consumption, has been recognised all the' world over as A VALUABLE DBINK, though perforce the trees or plants supplying the delicacy vary in different climates. Thus, in Kainpschatka, where neither eucalyptus nor maguey could live, the natives have called into requisition the more sturdy birch. Its sap, which is procured, as in eucalyptus, by boring holes in the trunk, is converted, with the addition of hops and sugar, into beer, or by a little different process, into wine. We are told that birch wine has an agreeable flavour and is very wholesome, also that that made in Eussia effervesces like champagne. It is recorded that during the siege of Hamburg by 1 the Russians in 1814, almost all the birch trees in the neighbourhood were destroyed by the Bashkirs, and other semibarbarians in the Russian service, by being tapped for their sap. In America, a drink is prepared from the pulp of the mucilaginous astringent fruit of Guazuma, a near relative of the cocoatree. This pulp undergoes various processes of fermentation, and thus furnishes a kind of beer. Chica is a maize beer made by some of . the Indians of the Andes. i CHI-CHI is the name given by the Patagonian .natives to a rude sort of cider which they brew in the autumn, when the wild apples' are ripe. : Their method of making it is simple in the extreme ; pits are dug in the earth and carefully lined with the hides of horses to prevent any juice soaking into the earth. Then the apples are gathered and thrown into the pits. They decay and ferment, and their • juice provides the material for the grand annual drinkingbout of the Patagonian men. The women have learnt by experience what the results of this bout too frequently are ; so when it commences they go round carefully collecting knives and other dangerous weapons from the men. With these and with their children they then steal away and hide in the woods until their lords and j masters shall have drunk themselves mad ' and slept themselves sober again. It is a somewhat sad reflection that these wild apples are the only legacy left by a few devoted Jesuits, who, soon after the conquest of South America, set out to convert tne Patagonian savages. The Jesuits took with them various implements of husbandry, and European grains and seeds for cultivation ; but they were all soon murdered, and only the apple trees flourished, propagated, and produced excellent fruit' in a climate more congenial to them than to missionaries.. DOWRA, OB DOBO, ' is a primitive beer, brewed in many parts of Africa— in Nubia and Abyssinia, in Mashonaland, and among the Kaffirs. The method of brewing is much the same in all countries, and is thus described by Mr, Bent :— -" Corn is soaked in water, and left until it sprouts a little ; then it is spread in the sun to dry and mixed with unsprouted grains ; then the women pound it in wooden mortars, and the malt obtained from this is boiled and left to stand, in a pot for two days, and overnight a little malt that has been kept for the purpose is thrown over the liquid to excite fermentation." Of quite a differpnt class of beverages is that known as kephir, drunk "by the people in Caucasus. This is effervescing milk, the effervescence being caused by the introduction into the milk of horny yellowishbrown masses known as " kephir-grains." When these grains are moistened they swell up into lumps of a gelatinous consistency. Kern, a scientific observer, studied the nature of these grains from a scientific point of view, and found that they were ' made up of A BOD-LIKE BACTEBIUM and a yeast, living together on terms of mutual advantage. On their introduction

into the milk, a series of fermentative changes were immediately set up, and the milk was broken up into its constituents. Lactic acid was produced, together with a little alcohol, sind a large quantity of carbonic acid gas, the presence of the last-named being, of conrse, the cause of the effervescence. Koumiss, or kuinis, is a similar beverage of effervescing milk. On the Asiatic steppes, the milk usually employed is that of the mares, though the milk of goats and asses is often used too. To European notions, koumiss made with the milk of mares or goats has a very unpleasant smell, though koumiss made with cow's milk is more palatable. This drink is credited nowadays with valuable nutritive properties in many wasting diseases. It was introduced' into England by Dr Jagielski, who in 1574 claimed, in thepage3 of the Brit ish Medical Journal,^ that koumiss will one day occupy a position' in every materia medica, oompared with which that of cod-liver oil,- stout,, beef extract, revalenta, &c, will be quite secondary.