Sandalwood paste

[Monica Bhide]

I have to admit, I thought sandalwood was used only for incense and as a face mask.. is it used in cooking -- Suvir, your expertise is needed here. Simon, Anil, India girl.. any ideas? Someone asked me to find out for them

[Simon Majumdar]

I can't say that I have ever heard of it being used as an ingredient in cooking.

As a perfume, cosmetic and offering,certainly, but in food, never

I would be interested to hear

S

[anil]

I'm totally in the dark on this one.

[indiagirl]

emailed my ultimate authorities (mom and mom-in-law) with the questions. never heard of it myself. can't imagine cooking it.

does any other cuisine have a dish where one of the ingredients is a wood of some kind? bamboo doesn't count!

teak tartare

pine au poivre served on a bed of walnut shavings

balsa au jus served with little baby carrots

ok. i'm sleep deprived. you must understand

i'll let you know when i find out ....

[A Scottish Chef]

is it used in cooking

it looks like it! Seems to be found in a few drinks known as Sandal Sherbert.

Here

Here

And Here

No forum tries harder than the Indian cuisine one to embrace social inclusion, so it would be remiss to leave the witches and warlock community out of things.

No broom required.

[anil]

it looks like it! Seems to be found in a few drinks known as Sandal Sherbert.

Here

Here

And Here

No forum tries harder than the Indian cuisine one to embrace social inclusion, so it would be remiss to leave the witches and warlock community out of things.

No broom required.

Very interesting - One learns something new all the time

[Monica Bhide]

Thank you, interesting stuff. Raji's article made me even think about trying it.. but not sure yet.. a bit to exotic even for me Thanks for the informative post

[Suvir Saran]

In my home in Delhi we drank a charnamrit (holy nectar) that was made by rubbing milk between a stone and a block of sandal wood.

The perfume infused milk was then added to more milk and raisins, basil leaves, jaggery and (ganga jal) water from the ganges.

This was made mostly in the summer.

My grandma would make a sandal ka uptan (paste made from sandalwood) that was used to bathe all the idlos in the kitchen temple. Many Indian women use this same paste as a face mask.

As a child I would spend many hours daily in my summer holiday making this paste. Some would go towards the drink, and most to bathe the idols.

I have heard of some families infusing some of this milk cream made by sandalwood to add to Thandai ( a chilled spicy drink enjoyed in the summers of the Northern Plains).

[Pan]

does any other cuisine have a dish where one of the ingredients is a wood of some kind? bamboo doesn't count!

Indeed not, because only the unwoody young shoots are used.

But cinammon is the bark of a tree. The Malay name for it, kayu manis, means "sweet wood."

[Wimpy]

The perfume infused milk was then added to more milk and raisins, basil leaves, jaggery and (ganga jal) water from the ganges.

Gee Suvir- I hope for your sake that it was indeed ages past since you've had that drink. From what I read in the papers recently, the Ganges river water had something like 5000 times the raw waste matter (read: sewage) considered safe by the World Health Organization! Unless of course, you got the water from the base of the Himalayas, where the river starts.

[Simon Majumdar]

The perfume infused milk was then added to more milk and raisins, basil leaves, jaggery and (ganga jal) water from the ganges.

Gee Suvir- I hope for your sake that it was indeed ages past since you've had that drink. From what I read in the papers recently, the Ganges river water had something like 5000 times the raw waste matter (read: sewage) considered safe by the World Health Organization! Unless of course, you got the water from the base of the Himalayas, where the river starts.

The Ganges is filthy and I shudder when I see people washing in it when I am in Calcutta. Mainly because as the do the corpses of people go gently floating by

" I drink dead people"

S

[Adam Balic]

Sandalwood was used quite a bit in European Medieval cooking. Mostly for the red colour, rather then the flavour. A type of Sandalwood grows wild in Australia, at one point I tasted a red wine that had been flavoured with it.

[Simon Majumdar]

. A type of Sandalwood grows wild in Australia, at one point I tasted a red wine that had been flavoured with it.

now it all becomes clear

[Adam Balic]

Well it was better then Ganges water.

[Suvir Saran]

The ganges is one of the longest running river.

In it's course it touches many cities and pilgrimage centers. Some are crowded and those are places where the water is FILTHY... or you can get water from higher parts of its course (in the Himalayas) where the water is clearer, odor and tasteless and colder than most any river water I have ever drunk.

Yes the GANGES is POLLUTED and these is no denying that... but if you know how it flows and where it flows, you have umpteen opportunities for finding amazingly wonderful drinks of ganges water. Sorry to disappoint you skeptics.

[tsquare]

I had a seafood nabe at a repectable and reliable Japanese restaurant last week. I almost asked (but obviously didn't) if they had used sandalwood in the preparation of the tempura shrimp that was served atop. It was faintly scented, but apparent. I had an olafactory memory while eating that, that it wasn't the first time I sensed this with shrimp tempura. Anyone know if there is a reason for this, other than me being crazy?