Gulab (Rose) Sherbat and Winners of our Giveaway

''The world is a rose, smell it and pass it to your friends.''Persian Proverb

Sherbat/Sharbat/Sherbet!!
What's in a name, that which we call a Rose, by any other name would smell as sweet..Shakespeare's famous quote holds so true. 
Called by different names in different regions, Sharbat (thats how I like to call it) is the world's first Soft drink! It is made from fruit juices or extracts of flowers or herbs and combined with sugar and water. Traditionally served on a hot day, Sharbat is a natural coolant for the body.
Making Rose Sharbat at home has been an old family custom for us. Though nowadays, it is easier to buy a bottle of readymade Sharbat with so much variety in the market, this year my mother decided to give in to the tried, tasted and tested homely method. Though not bright red as the market ones, our homemade Rose Sharbat was certainly far better in taste than the bought one. And do I even need to compare the price difference...The bought one 700mL bottle costs around Rs 100/ whereas in the same amount we made 2L bottles of Sharbat!!! And all that with the promise of home hygiene and loads of fun!!

Ingredients:For 2 litres of Sharbat concentrate

• 1.5 litres of water
• 100 gms dried rose petals(you can use fresh rose petals too)
• 1 kg sugar
• 1 tsp red food colour
• 1 tsp rose essence

 

Procedure:
Pressure cook dried/fresh rose petals with 1/2 amount of water for 3-4 whistles.
Strain and let it cool. (I discarded the cooked rose petals but you may try and keep some aside to use in the Sharbat to have some petals in the drink)
Put the strained liquid in a large pan and add sugar. Put the pan on Gas stove and cook stirring continuously till the sugar melts and the mixture thickens. This should take about 15-20 mins. 
Let this cool.
Add red food colour and rose essence once the mixture is cooled completely. Mix well.

Note 

• This is a concentrate, and needs to be diluted with water before serving.
• Another way of having it is adding with milk and soda for a Soda milk shake.
• Use it also as a syrup to drizzle over ice creams/sorbets/deserts.   
• If you saved cooked rose petals, add them in the end.
• Check colour by adding water to some concentrate and then adjust colour and essence to your liking. 
• This concentrate stays good in the refrigerator for several months.

The winners of our Giveaway books are
Bright Red(Minu)
Sayantani Mahapatra
Namita Tiwari
Please send us your shipping addresses asap on amritavishal127@gmail.com. Since all three books have become our fav, we will do a lucky draw to choose who gets which book, in all fairness.
 
Thank you all for supporting and loving us. Hoping for many more years of enjoying learning and sharing great food.

Happy Sharbat drinking!!
Amrita