Does jaggery dissolve in cold water?

Jaggery powder does, with about a minute of stirring. A block dissolves slowly, so crush it first or melt it in a little warm water.

How much jaggery for one glass of sharbat?

A little over one tablespoon of jaggery powder, about 15 g, for a 250 ml glass. Adjust it to the lemon.

How is gur ka sharbat different from panakam?

Both are jaggery in water. Gur ka sharbat is the north Indian drink with lemon, black salt and cumin. Panakam is the southern one, with dry ginger and cardamom, made for Rama Navami.

Nimbu gur ka sharbat, the village summer drink

गुड़ का शरबत

Jaggery, lemon, black salt and roasted cumin in cold water. The shikanji of the gur belt, made in five minutes without lighting the stove.

Two tall glasses of amber nimbu gur sharbat with ice, lemon slices and mint, beside a bowl of jaggery powder — Representative image of the dish.

Summer afternoons · Prep 5 min · Cook 0 min · Total 5 min · Makes 3 glasses · North Indian beverage

Before there was squash in a bottle there was gur ka sharbat: jaggery stirred into water, with lemon and whatever the masala box offered. In the villages of western Uttar Pradesh it is still what is handed to anyone who walks in from the sun.

It is amber rather than pale, it tastes of caramel and lemon, and it needs no cooking at all if the gur is a powder.

Ingredients

4 tbsp (about 50 g) ShuddhGaon jaggery powder
3 cups Chilled water
2 Lemons
¼ tsp Black salt (kala namak)
½ tsp Roasted cumin powder
A pinch Black pepper, crushed
8 to 10 Mint leaves
To serve Ice

Method

Dissolve the jaggery Stir the jaggery powder into half a cup of the water for about a minute, until no grains are left.
Season it Add the lemon juice, the black salt, the cumin and the pepper, and stir.
Top it up Pour in the rest of the chilled water. Taste it: add a spoon more gur or a squeeze more lemon, as you like.
Serve Crush the mint leaves between your palms, drop them into three glasses with the ice and pour the sharbat over.

With our jaggery

Powder is what makes this practical. It dissolves in plain water with a minute of stirring, where a block would need melting on the stove first. If you are using our cubes, crush two or three with the back of a spoon and give them a few minutes in the water. Our gur is unbleached, so the drink is amber, not the pale yellow of a sugar shikanji.

Tips from our kitchen

Make a concentrate Bring 1 cup of jaggery powder and 1 cup of water to a boil, simmer for a minute, strain it and let it cool. Kept in a clean, dry glass bottle in the fridge, it lasts up to a week. Two tablespoons make a glass.
With sattu Whisk 2 tablespoons of roasted chana sattu into each glass and you have the sattu sharbat of Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh.
With soda Use half the water to dissolve and season, and top the glasses up with chilled soda.

Questions people ask

Does jaggery dissolve in cold water?: Jaggery powder does, with about a minute of stirring. A block dissolves slowly, so crush it first or melt it in a little warm water.
How much jaggery for one glass of sharbat?: A little over one tablespoon of jaggery powder, about 15 g, for a 250 ml glass. Adjust it to the lemon.
How is gur ka sharbat different from panakam?: Both are jaggery in water. Gur ka sharbat is the north Indian drink with lemon, black salt and cumin. Panakam is the southern one, with dry ginger and cardamom, made for Rama Navami.

Worth reading alongside this

The jaggery this recipe is made with

ShuddhGaon Jaggery Powder Pouch — The same fine gud powder in resealable 500 g and 1 kg zip pouches
ShuddhGaon Jaggery Powder — Fine gur shakkar that melts into tea, coffee and milk
ShuddhGaon Jaggery Cubes — Pure sugarcane jaggery, cut into ready-to-use cubes
ShuddhGaon Jaggery Combo — Cubes for the cup, powder for the kitchen

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