Kokam Cooler

Kokam also known as Garcinia Indica is from the Mangosteen family . Kokam trees are found in abundance in South of India where the fruits are used for various purposes. The dried fruit is used in most of the dishes instead of tamarind due to their sourness. One distinct difference between tamarind and kokam being that tamarind is known to increase the acidity doshas in humans   whereas kokam is usually taken as a remedy to reduce this same acidity. In summer when the kokam fruits ripen and fall they are given a cut and stuffed with sugar. These stuffed kokams  are then  stored in bottles.  The juice that oozes out is stored as concentrate and used to make one of the yummiest sharbat  known as kokam sarbat. This is a thirst quencher and has cooling properties  and so very effective to have during summers. Its a real delight to have this cold sarbat during the hot summers.

Today I have used the Kokam Agal or Kokam concentrate without sugar. This you get in any shop in south.
It is very versatile as it can be used to make kadhis or sarbat or even you can substitute in dishes where the use of tamarind pulp is recommended.

Linking this post to   Priya's event     of  healthy-diet-food-event-healthy-juices hosted by Kiran of Sumadhara

Ingredients :

Kokam Agal
Powdered Sugar
Pepper powder or Cumin powder
Pinch of salt
Ice cold water

Method :

Dilute the concentrate with ice cold water .
Add a pinch of salt and either pepper or cumun powder.
And you are ready to sip this cool cool sarbat.