Mahua

Mahua is the spirit distilled from the fallen flowers of the mahua tree, Madhuca longifolia, which grows across the forested belt of central and eastern India. It belongs to the Adivasi communities of that belt, the Gond, Santhal, Bhil and Baiga among them, for whom the tree is a source of food and drink and has a place in custom and ceremony. The flowers are gathered in spring and dried, and the liquor is made in village stills by families who have always made it. It is a country liquor in the plain sense, a drink of the households that make it, and its history is carried by those households far more than by any written text.

The corolla of the mahua flower is fleshy, cream to pale amber, and rich in sugar, which is why it ferments without any added sweetener. The dried flowers are soaked in water and left to ferment, usually with the help of wild yeast and sometimes a starter of bark or herbs, until a sour, vinous wash results. This is distilled in a clay or metal pot still, traditionally over a wood fire, and the vapour is condensed in a vessel cooled with water. The spirit is clear, usually between 20 and 40 per cent alcohol by volume depending on the still and the run, with a heavy, honeyed, slightly smoky scent of the dried flower. The flowers are also eaten, dried like raisins or cooked into cakes and porridges.

Mahua is drunk in small quantities, neat, from leaf cups or small clay or metal vessels, and it accompanies the foods of the households that make it: roasted and boiled meats, forest greens, millet and rice, and the dried flowers themselves. The structure is simple. The spirit is sweet-scented and strong, so it is set against salty, fatty or smoky foods that stand up to it and clear the palate between measures. Where it is offered at festival or ceremony it is poured as a gesture before it is drunk as a drink.