A glass full of refreshing red drink, which can beautifully quench your thirst while having a pleasing nawabi affair with your tastebuds. Its history is completely compatible with the culture and cuisine of the country making it a relaxing refuge from the burning summer heat.
Origins and Rise to Popularity:
Rose Sharbat's story dates back to the year 1906 in the city of Delhi. Hakim Hafiz Abdul Majeed, a practitioner of Unani medicine, established an innovative concoction of herbs to address the summer heat and its associated issues like dehydration. He gave it the name "Rooh Afza", which directly translates to "Soul Refresher" and uses a combination of fruits, herbs, and most importantly, rose petals in the process.
The tasty Rooh Afza quickly became popular among the people for its cooling properties and the fact that it was also supposed to be good for health. Stunning packaging designed by artist Mirza Noor Ahmad brought out its beauty and made it even more appealing to customers. In just a few years, Rooh Afza has gained such popularity that it is now not only well-known in the country but also associated with the summers.
Beyond Rooh Afza:
While Rooh Afza is the most well-known rose sharbat drink, the tradition goes much further than this. Homemade rose sharbat recipes find their way through generations by using fresh or dried rose petals, drowned in water with sugar, spices, and often with milk. Besides regional differences, some of them add their own specifically tangy taste, for example by using a watermelon or lemon to create a spicy-cool mixture.
Must Try Rose Sharbats:
Enduring Popularity:
Rose sharbat continues to be a popular summer beverage in India for several reasons:
Refreshing Taste: The aromatic floral scent and the mellow sweetness of the rose petals provide a very relaxing and pleasurable experience.
Cultural Significance: A class in itself, rose sharbat is grounded in tradition and usually associated as a drink for summer celebrations in India.
Potential Health Benefits: The known cooling effect of rose flower petals helps promote mild digestive and mood-boosting systems.
Versatility: Rose sharbat is a versatile syrup that added to milk, water, or lassi, elevates the taste of the mixture. Nonetheless, it is also used to flavor many desserts.
A Unique Twist: Sharbati Mohabbat of Old Delhi
In these crowded streets of Delhi, lies the culinary heritage of the region and perhaps of all the regions in India which share the most tasteful relation with our history.
Among the many tasteful outlets here, is the internet sensation attraction unique to the place “Sharbat-e-Mohabbat”. Simply translating to “the drink of love”, this drink has been a local hit with its distinct taste, and its cheerful seller Nawab Qureshi.
Incorporating watermelons, milk, sugar syrup, and some of Rooh Afza, Nawab pioneered introducing the Sharbat-e-Mohabbat cocktail in Delhi in 2000. Nawab's signature "Tapa-Tap" dialogue, which is a Bengali term for the activity of eating food noisily, made him a social media sensation, and he became a viral character all over social media platforms.
The Sharbat-e-Mohabbat is proof of the long-lasting infatuation with rose sharbat of the whole of India and can also serve as a good illustration of the unique character and life of Old Delhi’s street food culture.
Conclusion:
Right from its humble beginning as a drug in Unani pharmacies to its current status as a nationalized cool drink, the rose sharbat has forged a unique niche within the Indian culinary culture. Its refreshing flavor, its cultural heritage, and its health (or health-giving properties) give more reasons to savor it for many generations to come. Whether you are looking for the widely accessible Rose Sharbat or the special recipe of Rose Sharbat-e-Mohabbat, no summer can be complete without this refreshing drink.
