Stay cool

As soon as you’ve reached home, braving the city traffic and sultry weather, you long for a cold glass of water. Swap the plain water with a refreshing cold shikanji and you’re recharged enough to spend the rest of the evening with your loved ones. Read ahead to find which summer drinks will you opt for?

Traditional Indian summer drinks come in two variants—milk based and fruit based. Both the variants have their own fan following. Again, each region in India has its own cooling drink to offer. In parts of Bihar and Eastern UP, roasted gram flour or sattu is seasoned with sugar or rock salt depending on the taste and mixed with water to keep the heat at bay. Nutritionists have upheld the lipid lowering properties of sattu. Other than sattu, sherbet of bael is a popular drink in this region. Bael has cooling properties and keeps summer heat at bay. Though, these drinks change names with a change of place, the essence remains intact. Nimbu pani becomes shikanji in UP which is essentially a cooling, re-hydrating drink made with water, sugar, lemon juice and a dash of rock salt. Add crushed ice to it before serving to quench the summer heat.

Go green

Another popular drink in North India is aam panna which is made with unripe green mangoes. Aam panna is renowned for its heat resistant properties. Apart from being tasty this drink also looks good due to its refreshing light green color.

Aam panna is prepared using raw mangoes, sugar and an assortment of spices. It’s an effective remedy for heat exhaustion and heat stroke. It also quenches thirst and prevents the excessive loss of sodium chloride and iron during summer due to excessive sweating. This drink is mainly consumed in the Northern part of the India and is considered beneficial in the treatment of gastro-intestinal disorders.

Cooling drinks like watermelon juice, khus and rose sherbet are high on popularity chart too this summer. Water melon juice is deprived of added sugar and is a wonderful way to bring the summer heat down. Crush a few mint leaves along with the scooped fruit and pour in a tall glass over ice to bring the mercury down. Sherbets made of khus and rose are immensely popular with people of all ages. Khus is also considered a blood purifier and is good for calming nerves. For rose sherbet the popular brands are Rooh Afza and Sharbat E Azam. Coconut water packaged by nature is a gentle drink, boosts the immune system and rehydrates in mild diarrhoea. Children need instant energy to replenish the shortfall. Glucose is just perfect for this.

In milk based drinks there are thandai and lassi. Thandai as the name goes cools summer heat. It’s made with chilled milk, saffron threads and paste of almond, fennel and cardamom seeds. Churned yoghurt in the company of sugar or rock salt takes different names: lassi and chach. Irrespective of the name this drink brings a welcome reprieve from the summer heat.

What are you drinking?

• Duck regular tea in favour of ice tea. Tannins in tea will offer antioxidant advantage. To make your tea work harder for you, replace honey with sugar and green tea bags with regular ones.
  Nothing beats water to cool down the body heat. If you find it hard to drink so much of plain water add some lemon juice or mint leaves to it.
• Chilled glass of beer in front of a roaring TV with wife on mute is the stuff of which dreams of husbands are made of. Beer is enriched with B vitamins, but if this summer you’re relying on it way too much to get your vitamins, you better watch out for a beer belly.
  Mint is a cooling herb. Use it alone with water or spice your juices with it to keep the heat at bay.
• Keep distance from bone leaching sodas and enjoy the traditional cooling drinks this summer. Your health will thank you for this wise step. So will your wallet.

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