Madurai is a blessed town, and that’s not only because it has an agglomeration of temples. For a temple town, it also has some of the most delectable and viscerally satisfying food you’ll find in Tamil Nadu. But during summer you will find many street vendors selling a unique Drink called “Jigarthanda” you will here street vendors calling Jil Jil Jigarthanda. If you in Madurai you cannot miss on this drinks. This drink is a southern cousin of falooda of the north.
Jigarthanda is a cold beverage that is famous in the South Indian city of Madurai in Tamil Nadu. It translates to drink that cools the Liver. The basic ingredients include milk, almond gum, sarsaparilla root or ‘Nannari’ syrup, sugar and ice-cream.
The drink has two interesting ingredients that defies this from all the other summer drinks. One is the Badam pisin or Almond Gum. Badam pisin is a natural gum obtained from sweet almond tree. Badam Pisin is an Amazing natural body coolant and is a perfect ingredient to use during scorching summers to keep the body cool. This ingredient is also full of Anti-Oxidant and a known Aphrodisiac.
The other Magic Ingredient is ‘Nannari’ Syrup. The herb ‘Sarasaparilla’, better known as ‘Nannari’ is a wonder herb which would come in handy during summer, with its cooling medicinal property of protecting one from common summer ailments. The syrup made from this herb root is called nannari syrup. Our ancestors used to drink a mixture of extracts from ‘Nannari’ roots, adding a tint of lime juice and palm sugar (panamkalkandam) to keep them cool during summer. The exposed part of the root is brown in colour, while the inner part is whitish. The root has an astringent taste and a pleasant odour. The herb is found in foothills and only the roots of the herb are used for extraction. the ‘Nannari’ extract is prepared from its roots through steam distillation, after which, it is mixed with citric acid, water and sugar, in certain proportions, to constitute the ‘Nannari’ concentrate or syrup.
The drink was initially called as Jigar-danda. Some historians also claim that this drink was associated with ruler of the state. The City was under the rule of sultans first and then taken over by the viceroys of vijaynagar empire. The drink was then called Jigar danda where Danada stands for the stick or clubs representing the ruler of the state. The Danda also became associated with bheema and hanuman.
Later with muslim settlements the drink was known as Jigar-thanda. The drink has unique etymological significance. One meaning says that drink that cools the liver, whereas the another meaning says that Jigar denotes Spirit or courage wheras thanda comes form the Arabic word thandal, which means captain of the ship or rower of the boat. Such people need physical and mental strength as seafarers. They used Kadal passi , sea algae as staple food . The Abrabs when came across this made the drink popular taking a detour and replacing the sea algae with badam pissin (almond Gum) .
It is believed that during the Regin of emperor Akbar a variant of this drink was made. That drink too is made with almond pisin (gum).But later the recipe evolved and traveled with Muslims from Hyderabad and setteled in Madurai. The Drink was mainly innovated to cool the Muslim settlers. The Drink was used as an energy booster, coolant and also relaxant. Almond gum is an aphrodisiac, and milk a soporific. “The almond pisin would give them strength, and the milk would later help them sleep,”
