Falsa/Phalsa/Grewia Asiatica : Another summer stunner

I try to keep my interaction with Delhi Summer to a minimum. May and June are the hardest when you really wonder why we still live in Delhi. It’s hot, dry, dusty. You want to run away but flights are too expensive, train tickets unavailable, all hotels full or unaffordable. Half of Delhi’s families plan trips to the mountains during their kids’ summer break. The other half descends upon the limited supply of swimming pools in Delhi. Voltage fluctuations at night keep you up with their incessant clicking. For some reason even the Net stops working.

‘If there is hell, this is it this is it this is it’, on some days it does feel like that.

On one such day the falsa seller knocked on my door. He remembered that I had been one of his customers last summer.

Long journey, short shelf life

Falsa berries appear for a short while in the summer and it’s increasingly becoming pretty rare to find them. Just as shehtoot or mulberry has disappeared off our streets.

This time I thought I’d make concentrated falsa squash so it lasts longer and takes less shelf space.

Concentrated Flasa Squash

Recipe for concentrated falsa squash:

Falsa: 500gm

Sugar: 250gm *

Water: 500gm *

Black salt/regular salt

* The amount of sugar depends on how sour/sweet the berries are. Taste and adjust accordingly.

Heat the sugar and water mixture until it’s reduced to half. Keep aside.

Gently wash the falsa, add enough water to it so they are fully submerged. Heat it until the flesh of the berries is soft and pulpy. Let it cool. Blend roughly, you’d want the seeds to be thick enough to sieve out.

Sieve the mixture.

Add it to the sugar and water mixture, put it on heat and adjust with more sugar or more falsa.

I also added a fistful of dried kokum skins at the last stage, let it simmer for 5 minutes and strained again.

Kokum gave it a beautiful deep purple and an added sweet and sour aroma.

What I got was a thick pulpy squash because I did not strain through a cloth which would be best if you want a smooth liquid.

You can just dilute it with water and drink it; you can add a drizzle to your morning muesli with yogurt, or you can

turn it into a beautiful pink lolly :

Berry Cool!