- Title: RELIGION/RAMADAN-PAKISTAN-GUM DRINKS Pakistan gum drinks prove popular in Ramadan
- Date: 13th July 2015
- Summary: PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CUSTOMERS WAITING OUTSIDE GOND KATEERA DRINK STALL CUSTOMERS SIPPING SHERBET BESIDE KIOSK MARKED WITH (IN URDU) : "GOND KATEERA HERBAL SHERBET" VARIOUS OF CUSTOMERS SIPPING GOND KATEERA DRINK FROM STEEL BOWLS STALL OWNER PREPARING GOND KATEERA SHERBET VARIOUS OF NUTS, DRIED FRUITS AND HERBS BEING PUT INTO STEEL BOWLS SOAKED
- Embargoed: 28th July 2015 13:00
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- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVAEPONWT9UOS9L1T5UCU37YD9QP
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- Story Text: The Muslim holy month of Ramadan has fallen during the hottest season in Pakistan this year.
With temperatures soaring to unprecedented heights, and frequent power outages adding to the misery of the fasting masses, observing the dawn-to-dusk abstinence from eating and drinking has become a veritable nightmare.
But residents of Peshawar's old Walled city have found a cure to beat the intense thirst and weakness that marks a day of fasting in the blistering heat.
Shortly after their iftar meals, scores of locals make their way through the maze of narrow alleys to around half a dozen stalls set up in a cul de sac of the historic 'undar shehr' (Inner City), where sellers are busy preparing a special sherbet drink made from Gond Kateera Tragcanth or Dragon gum.
Gond Kateera is obtained from the dried sap of a special species of thorny shrubs that grows in Western Asia, Iraq, Iran and the Middle East.
Iran is the biggest producer of the best quality of this gum which is mostly used in India, Pakistan and some Middle Eastern countries in herbal medicines and food additives.
Most of the Gond Kateera stall owners say they've been selling the drink for years, but the demand rises several-fold during Ramadan nights.
"We have been selling this drink here for 16 years. It used to cost Rs. 10 (US$ 0.1) ; now it sells for Rs.60 (US$ 0.59), and still people come here very eagerly and drink it happily. We put 13 ingredients into the drink: gond kateera, cashew nuts, almonds, crushed rose petals, apricots, raisins, dried pineapple, dates, basil seeds and various herbs and spices. In summer, we add additional items also," said Khalid Khan, a seller at one of the stalls.
"People like to drink this especially in Ramadan, because they are fasting the whole day during the summer heat. At the time of 'iftar', people literally swarm our stalls to cool their inner systems, and to help with any digestive problems," said Mohammad Owais, busy serving customers at his adjacent shop.
Gond Kateera is a tasteless, odourless vegetable gum, dull white in colour. It is viscous and dries into flakes, blocks or crystals on exposure to air.
When soaked in water for six to eight hoours, it swells and turns into a jelly-like substance which is transparent and looks like chunks of ice.
Pharmacists say it has many health benefits, the most important being that it has a very cooling effect on the body.
Hakim Iftikhar Ahmed, a recognized herbalist of Peshawar, whose family has been running a medicinal herbs and spices business in the city for more than five decades, says gond kateera is the best "revitalizing tonic" that he can recommend after a long, hot day of fasting.
"The gond kateera sherbet is made from ingredients that make it an extremely revitalizing tonic. Around 12 or 13 ingredients are mixed in it, and everyone of these ingredients has special health benefits. For example it has 'charmaghz' (combination of pumpkin seeds, watermelon seeds, musk melon seeds and cucumber seeds), which is nourishing for the brain. It has apricots which have a cooling effect on the body. Gond kateera itself is extremely helpful in strengthening the muscles, as well as very beneficial for the liver and the digestive system," he said.
Ahmed says externally the gum has long been used in traditional medicine for dressing burns. It is also a good laxative, helps in urinary incontinence, is beneficial during pregnancy and is also believed to cure weakness in men.
It is now believed that it might have anti-tumour properties, and could stimulate the immune system, he added.
Customers, enjoying the refreshing sherbet, said no other juice, energy drink, barley water or butter milk can beat the heat like gond kateera.
"This is very good for the stomach, and also for constipation. It is made of spices and herbs, and it has ingredients that keeps you in a happy frame of mind. We come here and drink a bowl, and the next day our tempers are calm, and the heat does not bother us much either," said daily wage labourer Sajjad Ahmed, who was waiting for his second bowl of gond kateera.
"We come here daily during the holy month of Ramadan because the weather is very hot. We drink this on a daily basis to get energy in our bodies. The body feels weak after a whole day's fasting, and a bowl or two of this boosts up the body's vitality," said local teacher, Khan Gul.
Pakistan is a pre-dominant Muslim country where more than 90 percent of its 190 million people practice Islam.
This year, the extreme heat that reached 44 degrees Celsius (111 Fahrenheit) in many parts of the country - the hottest since 1981 - coincided with power failures and the onset of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
More than 1,150 people died of dehydration and heat strokes around the teeming port city of Karachi during the holy month, due to the worst heatwave to hit the city in more than three decades. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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