Bael Ka Sharbat(stone apple or wood apple cooler)

Bael tree is a tree of great use in India. The leaves are invaluable as they are used to perform religious rituals and is extensively used in Ayurveda. The fruit is eaten once it ripes. The sharbat or juice that is prepared from bael is a great cooler specially when you are dealing with high temperature like 45 to 49 degree C.
I have seen different varieties of bael fruit hanging in the trees. The outside of the bael is woody in nature and inside is pulpy.

Lets take a look at how to prepare the sharbat.

Serves - 4 to 5 glasses of sharbat
Preparation time- 15 to 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• Bael/ stone apple/ wood apple- 1 large in size 

• Sugar
• Ice cubes
• Water

Method of preparation:

• Break the bael or stone apple by using a kitchen hammer.

• Scrap the pulp from the shell using a spoon or scraping tool.

• Now place all the scrapped pulp and the inside pulp in a mixer grinder. Add water and grind.
• Grind until smooth paste like consistency can be seen.

• Now place this grinded pulp over the strainer, which will let go the smooth paste leaving behind the seeds.
  
• Cool the strained sharbat and serve it cold by adding ice cubes.

• You can adjust the consistency of the sharbat by adding water and sugar as per taste.

Enjoy bael ka sharbat and beat the heat with it.... Enjoy!! and Happy cooking.

By- Sushmita Pandit