Arts Commentary & Writing, No. ❾
April 13, 2023
Lanka’s Tree Wine
Edited by Malini Narayan and Pradyumna Sapre
Once upon a time, on an island who was granted many a name—Serendib, Seilan, Zeilan, and Ceylon, to cite a few—a great discovery was made from the flower of the coconut tree. The marvelous coconut is celebrated widely—its tall, slender, sinuous trunk offering up a rustling bouquet of graceful leaves to the sky can instantly evoke all the magic of the tropical island.
What is most extraordinary about the coconut palm is, as Tennent puts it—the marvel of how every part of the coconut tree is put to use. The trunk provides wood for rafters, railings, boats, troughs, furniture, and firewood. The young leaves, natively known as gokkola, can be woven into decorations for traditional festivals, while the mature leaves make excellent thatch for roofing, mats, and baskets, as well as fodder for cattle and manure. The sturdy, pliant stems of the leaves are used for fences, kadhas (yokes), fishing rods, and domestic utensils. Each half-shell of the nut makes a perfect drinking bowl, and the shells can also be made into spoons, knife-handles, or ornaments, and conversely can also be burned to make charcoal that can be used as tooth powder. The fiber that envelopes the shell within the outer husk , coir, is used as well: spun into ropes, bunched in brushed, or used as stuffing for mattresses or cushions, or simply burned as a biofuel.
The clear, sweet liquid contained in the nut (especially that of the king coconut palm) is a refreshing drink, naturally rich in rehydration salts. Enjoyed for centuries in Sri Lanka, coconut water has recently become a highly sought-after health drink around the world. The sweet, succulent flesh of the young nut can be eaten as a delicious snack, while the flesh of the mature nut is scraped out, mixed with water and squeezed to yield rich ‘coconut milk’—an essential ingredient in traditional curry.
The flesh also gives rise to edible coconut oil—once wrongfully condemned for its saturated fats—which has now been pronounced perfectly healthy (as the island’s people have always known) and has even become a vegan substitute of choice for baking. In fact, coconut has become the latest health-food darling in the West—exotic and trendy. In South Asia, it adopts many forms ranging from conditioners of the hair to fuel in oil lamps, and even as an essential ingredient in traditional Ayurvedic medicine and domestic spaces. Even the remains of the nut, after the oil has been expresses, are not wasted. Locally known as poonak, it is used as cattle fodder and poultry feed.
Finally, the least known part of the coconut is the unopened flower spathe that can be tapped to collect sap, or toddy, which when fresh from the tree, makes a healthy drink. However, on the island of Lanka, another use for the toddy was found—it was fermented to make vinegar or distilled to create the spirit known as coconut arrack.
The late food and travel writer Anthony Bourdain described the resultant liquor’s taste as “a marriage of bourbon and rum, but with a stronger, burning kick and a mysterious bouquet.” Coconut arrack is undoubtedly one of the oldest distilled spirits in the world, predating Scotch and Irish whiskies, vodka, gin, and rum. While no one knows when coconut arrack was discovered, there are tales of the ancient kings of Lanka feeding their elephants this milky wine, to give them courage before they charged into battle. In the later period of the Portuguese occupation of Sri Lanka (1505–1658), primitive distilling was an established cottage industry. The industry only flourished under British and Dutch in the following centuries of colonial rule.
Arrack was once a Hindi word that encompassed all distilled spirits. Coconut arrack is quite distinct from the ‘arak’ or ‘araq’ that used to be made from fermented fruits (usually dates and raisins) in Africa and the Middle East, and from the Batavia arrack distilled from the molasses in Java and Indonesia. Interestingly, the word ‘punch’ is thought to have been derived from the Hindustani ‘panchamratam,’ which means ‘five juice,’ a reference to the number of ingredients for the drink that traditionally were arrack, sugar, lime juice, spice, and water. Making arrack is a painstaking process—from the hand-picking of the toddy or sap from the coconut palm to the distillation and blending of the spirits. With arrack getting more and more famous, in case you find yourself with a bottle in the near future, here are some popular drinks the Sri Lankans enjoy with their local spirit.
The Aliya
Arrack and coconut—much like yin and yang—are inextricably linked. The local islanders love to drink their arrack with coconut water, and it dates back to the days of the kings of Lanka, when it was served to the royal elephants before battle. In fact, Aliya means ‘elephant’ in Sri Lanka.
100 ml — Chilled Coconut Water
50ml — Arrack
Fresh Lime Wedge
* For an equally refreshing taste, the coconut water can be substituted with a good-quality ginger ale.
Pour Ceylon Arrack over large cubes of ice, top up with chilled coconut water and serve with a wedge of zesty lime. Another great alternative is to make ice cubes from coconut water, gently pour Ceylon Arrack over them and serve in a coconut shell or rocks glass.
ArRACk JULAB
Drinking this fragrant cocktail is an experience as sensorial as an amble through an Arabic spice market is, so its name, Julab—or ‘perfume’—is apt. Don’t be fooled by the aromatic sweetness. This cocktail, created by the team at Nightjar in London, is stronger than you think.
25ml — Arrack
3 dashes — Turkish Delight Syrup
25ml — Rum
12.5ml — Absinthe
Arabic bitters, cardamom, anise, liquorice, rose, green tea, coffee, mint
Mix all the ingredients, shake well and strain into a Turkish coffee pot, and even consider topping it up with a splash of champagne. Garnish with rose buds and a piece of Turkish delight.
Coco moRATUWA
Named aft er Moratuwa, a coastal suburb of the Sri Lankan city of Colombo, this cocktail is as uplift ing as sea air and sunshine—a sweet, refreshing blend of Ceylon Arrack, honey, lemon, coconut sugar syrup and spicy Velvet Falernum. It was created by Andrew Gray and listed by Charlene Holt at Apotheca Bar in Manchester, England.
12.5ml — Arrack
10ml — Lemon Juice
37.5ml — Velvet Falernum
25ml — Coconut Sugar Syrup
1 spoonful — Runny Honey
Stir the lemon juice with the honey and coconut sugar syrup. Once the honey is well diluted, add some cubed ice, the Ceylon Arrack and the Velvet Falernum. Shake and finely strain the mix into a short glass and garnish with a lemon wheel and maraschino cherry.
Adapted from The Adventures of the Arrack by Michelle Gunawardana, for Rockland Distillery.
Cocktail Recipes from Ceylon Arrack.