Indian Beverages

[Episure]

Summer time calls for a home made Jasmine flower sherbet.

Bring equal volumes of water and sugar to a boil and add cardamoms and a sliver of sandalwood. After another 20 minutes shut of the heat and add jasmine flowers trimmed off their green stem ends. Let it stew overnight, drain and you have a lovely sherbet. Serve diluted with water and ice cubes. Small white Jasmine flowers are worn as a hair braid by Indian women and are also available outside temples.

I also use this to make a sorbet to serve between courses. My other favorite is the Bel Sherbet, unfortunately my source of this fruit from Calcutta has migrated elsewhere. I must develop a source for this near Bombay.