Back in my school days, I remember relishing nannari sarbath every day from the small bakery near my school. This summer, after walking through under the scorching sun one afternoon, I couldn’t but think of that nannari sarbath I used to have in my school days. Just like what anyone else would have done, I bought nannari syrup from the supermarket and make a sarbath home. But I couldn’t recreate that taste. And when I looked at the ingredients of the bottled nannari syrup, it contained E211 preservative, which is sodium benzoate. Not something you would like to have on a regular basis!!!
Nannari root is quite beneficial for our health. Native Americans used it as a blood tonic and it is supposed to be helpful for relieving constipation, acidity and also for purifying blood. But when you add preservatives to it, you start wondering whether the benefits of nanari gets negated. So, I thought of making nannari syrup from scratch.
When I asked my mother, she advised that nannari in root form can be bought from a nearby Ayurveda shop. But drying it in the sun and powdering it would take a few days of effort. So, instead, I bought nannari powder online and got started.
From a few trials and errors, what I could observe is that the most difficult part of making nannari syrup is passing it through muslin cloth to separate the powder from the syrup. If you try passing it through the sieve after it has reached syrup consistency, it becomes even more difficult to separate the powder from the syrup.
So, the first step is you need to ensure that the essence from nannari gets infused into the syrup. You can do this by boiling nannari powder in water and leaving it overnight. Then pass it through a muslin cloth to separate the powder from the water. If you are making nannari syrup using root instead of powder, it would actually be a lot easier. You can grind nannari roots into a coarse consistency. That would make it way easier to complete this step.
The syrup is made using sugar and water. You can use jaggery powder or brown sugar instead of regular sugar. Here is the step-by-step instruction on how to make nannari syrup from home.
How To Make Nannari Syrup?
Time needed: 13 hours
The main ingredients you require for making nannari syrup are nannari ( in root or powder form), sugar and water. Don’t get overwhelmed seeing the time required as most of it is passive, spent overnight letting nannari get infused into the water.
- Boil Nannari In Water
Take 100 gm nannari either in powder form or in root form. If it is in root form, crush it to a coarse consistency using a mortar pestle or a strong mixer grinder. Add 800 ml water to it and boil for 10-15 minutes on a medium to low flame. Then leave it overnight so that the nannari essence gets infused into the water.
- Pass It Through A Sieve
Wash a muslin cloth in boiling water. Then, keep it over a large sieve and separate the nannari powder from the water.
- Add Sugar To The Nannari Water
Add 5 cups ( 500 gm) sugar into the Nannari water and boil it till it reduces to half the initial quantity.
- Boil and Let It Cool
The syrup needn’t necessarily reach a string-like consistency when it is hot. Once it cools down the consistency becomes a little thicker.
- Store It
Once it cools down completely, store it in a dry bottle. As there are no added preservatives, always store the syrup in the fridge. When stored in fridge without coming into contact with moisture, nannari syrup lasts for 6-9 months or more.
- Make Sarbath
To make nannari sarbath, add 3-4 tablespoons of the syrup into a glass, squeeze half a lime and add water. You can also soak some sabja seeds ( falooda seeds) and add them to the sarbath.
With immense health benefits and being an easy drink, Nannari sarbath is a refreshing drink that will keep you energized during the summers. So, do try it out and let us know how you liked it. Nannari root and powder can be bought online from Amazon. We have also compiled a list of 51 other refreshing drinks you can enjoy this summer. Do check it out!