A spoonful of sweetness

 


(Photo by Doina Gavrilov: https://www.pexels.com/photo/delicate-pink-rose-17637049/ )

Gulkanda

As the temperatures soar, the warm, seasonal food that was served through the winter changed. Suddenly, butter milk and lemonade became the go to drinks to keep cool through the day. Curries were made with raw mango. But the most interesting was to eat a spoonful of gulkand in the mornings. At other times of the year, gulkand was an essential ingredient of meetha paan (betel leaf with sweet gulkand filling) but in summers you could eat it everyday to ward off heat related ailments. And it was home made!

Our tiny rose garden was our pride. It had about 20 variety of roses including climbers in our small front yard! But the ones that Aji took pride in were tucked away towards the backyard, near the bananas. They were the ‘desi’ or local ones in white, pink and pearl. The pearly one known as motiya in Marathi was particularly pretty! It is a delicate creamy rose with just a hint of pink! These had smaller flowers but they were just so fragrant!

The pink ones from these were plucked before they withered away. The petals were separated and put in a transparent glass jar and layered with sugar. And the jar was kept in the sun! With more blooms, the process was repeated. The contents of the jar were stirred every other day with a dry spoon.

Of course, one had to eat a spoonful every now and again to check that it was all turning out well. And in a few days it was ready, a rich brown concoction with a dash of cardamom powder was ready to be devoured. Not to mention the many meetha paans after delicious summery lunches.

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