Bhang, without the Bang

[jw46]

I am sure that there is a proper name for Bhang without the cannabis...

any help here?

[Monica Bhide]

That would be interesting. I thought Bhang was only with the drug

[jw46]

something would have to be added to give the flavor without making your urine tests go bonkers..

remembers seeing a recipe somewhere, and it had a name, but durn if I can find that webpage again...

[tryska]

what is the traditional bhang recipe anyways?

[deliad]

what is the traditional bhang recipe anyways?

One of the most famous or (infamous) liquid recipes is called "Thandai". I remember one time while visiting in Lucknow during Holi festival, when I was like 13 or 14, some of my cousins took me to Chowk and offerred to buy me Thandai. The options were "Saadi" (Plain) or "Rangeen" (Colorful). Little did I know, that Rangeen meant (with Bhaang).

Anyways, after consuming that, we had a joke session and I laughed so much that it hurt. Later I am told that I ate some 30 - 40 bread pakoras and slept like a log for 2 days.

It is also used in making Laddoos, Pedas etc. especially during Holi time.

Cheers!!

[tryska]

so you laughed with your friends, ate well and fell sound asleep.

i don't understand why bhang is illegal.

also does thandai have any source of fat in it?

Edited November 6, 2003 by tryska (log)

[Monica Bhide]

so you laughed with your friends, ate well and fell sound asleep.

i don't understand why bhang is illegal.

also does thandai have any source of fat in it?

Bhang as I understand it is a drug added to the Thandai to give it the kick! that is why its illegal

The source of fat in THandai comes from all the dry fruits that are added to it

Edited November 6, 2003 by Monica Bhide (log)

[tryska]

i know - i meant with effects like laughing, eating and sleeping well, it doesn't seem like a bad thing.

are the fruits coconuts?

the reason i'm asking is because the ingredient in marijuana that makes one "high" is tetrahydracannabinol (THC) and it's fat soluble. i had a long argument wiht someone once in another time and place regarding whether fat in the form of butter or oil or cream was truly necessary in order to extract the THC and ingest it. My argument was no, but they didn't believe me. If Thandai doesn't have any fat in it, then my arguments holds water.

Edited November 6, 2003 by tryska (log)

[Monica Bhide]

i know - i meant with effects like laughing, eating and sleeping well, it doesn't seem like a bad thing.

are the fruits coconuts?

the reason i'm asking is because the ingredient in marijuana that makes one "high" is tetrahydracannabinol (THC) and it's fat soluble. i had a long argument wiht someone once in another time and place regarding whether fat in the form of butter or oil or cream was truly necessary in order to extract the THC and ingest it.  My argument was no, but they didn't believe me.  If Thandai doesn't have any fat in it, then my arguments holds water.

" i know - i meant with effects like laughing, eating and sleeping well, it doesn't seem like a bad thing."

Thandai has nuts in it like almonds etc. No coconut.

[tryska]

ahhhh..nuts would give adequate fat.

i guess i stand corrected. (but i'll never admit it! )

[BBhasin]

Now on the subject of Thandai, I lived in benaras ( Varanasi ) for a while and should have paid more attention.

I believe its a sweet milk based drink flavored predominantly with ground fennel seeds and ground char magaz ( an asortment of melon seeds etc). Bhang or opium was mixed in this if you wanted a high. All the Thandai wallas also had these copper vessels which, if you desired, they would rub with a copper coin and the resultant blackish greenish stuff was also mixed with your Thandai. Supposedly it heightened the kick you got but the stuff was poisonous.

This bhang bussiness reminded me of two little stories.

It was holi in benaras and we decided to make bhang wali thandai. We sent out a hotel employee to get the 'stuff ' and ground up everything in the hotel's dosa grinder and prepared our thandai. Had a fun holi drank a lot of thandai and kept waiting in vain for the stuff to hit us nothing happened, until next morning, when it hit us and we all rushed for the toilets. Apparently the stuff we mixed in was the smoking stuff and not for thandai.

Also near Benaras is a place called, I think, Gop Gunj, where the government has an opium factory exporting tons of opium for medicinal purposes. Well a little stream flows( or used to) through this place into which the factory discharged their waste. There were dozens of baboons who got addicted to the water. They would just sit like zombies in the nearby trees etc and keep falling off now and then. It was a funny sight, though I never saw any monkey laughing.

[skchai]

O.K., if I understand correctly -

Bhaang = Hashish

Gaanja = Cannabis Plant (Marijuana)

Correct or incorrect? I'm confused because it seems that Bhaang seems sometimes to be used to refer to the entire plant as well as the resinous extract.

[BBhasin]

I am a bit confused too

Bhang, Ganja, Charas, Afeem, opium

can someone clarify please

[tryska]

Also near Benaras is a place called, I think, Gop Gunj, where the government has an opium factory exporting tons of opium for medicinal purposes. Well a little stream flows( or used to) through this place into which the factory discharged their waste. There were dozens of baboons who got addicted to the water. They would just sit like zombies in the nearby trees etc and keep falling off now and then. It was a funny sight, though I never saw any monkey laughing.

this is a funny, funny story. kind of sad too, but very funny.

[jw46]

ganja=cannabis

charas= smoked cannabis http://www.cannabis.net/india/charasvbhang.html

bhang=drink prepared with cannabis http://leda.lycaeum.org/Documents/Bhang_La...assi.4774.shtml

Afeem= opium http://www.khyber.org/pashtopictures/tirahdrugs.shtml

Just an old hippie here...glad to give some clarity on the terminology...

sigh...those WERE the good old days...

Edited November 8, 2003 by jw46 (log)