PALM WINE, or toddy, is the fermented sap of several palms of the E. Indics,—Arenga saccharifera, Borassus flabelliformis, Caryota urens, Cocos nucifera, Phoenix dactylifcra, P. sylvestris, and species of Caryota.
Palmyra wine.
Dom ? Tafi, . . ARAII. Pannang-kalloo, . Tax. Tali, TRH, BENG., HIND. Pattoo-toadi, . „ Lontar, . . . Mawr. . . TEL.
Tal-gaha, . . Firtiun.
Caryota urens.
llherli, . . . . Malta. Kittul, . . . Stscii.
Cocoanut tree.
Narjil, . . . ARAB. NankeiA, . . 8ANAK.
Narikel, . . . . 13F.,Nu. Tenga, TAM Nareli, . . . . Hrsn. Ten-kaia TEL Nur-ludapa, . MALAY. Nari-kadam, . „ Tenga, . . MALEAL. Kobbari kalloo, . , „ Wild date-palm (Phoenix sylvestris).
Send'hi, . . . Iltvv. I Eetehum pannay, . T.
Khajoori,. . . SANSK. Eeto , Tea.
Palm wine is mentioned in Exodus xxix. 40 and Numbers xxviii. 7, and its spirit seems to be the same as the strong drink of Isaiah v. 11 and xxiv. 9. The Hebrew name is Siker, the Sikers of the Greeks, from which seemingly comes the Sacchartun of the Romans. According to Jerome, in Hebrew any intoxicating liquor was Sikera, whether ob tained from grain, the juice of apples, honey, dates, or any other fruit.
When first drawn, palm wine is refreshing, but in a short time passes on to the vinous or acetous fermentation, and in these stages spirits are distilled, sugars are made, or vinegar obtained. In the languages of the E. Indies, the spirit is called arrack ; it is the cha of the Chinese, the sagwire of the Philippines, the tuba of Manilla and Mindoro, and the tuac of Timor and the Moluccas. The palm wines are obtained from the date trees by tapping or notching the trunk, and from the arenga, palmyra, cocoanut, caryota, by cutting the fruit-bearing spathe.
With the wild date tree, Plicenix sylvestris, in Bengal, the process of tapping and extracting the juice commences about the 1st of November and terminates about the 15th of February. Some days previously, the lower leaves of the crown are stripped off all round, and a few extra leaves from the side of the tree intended to be tapped. On the part thus denuded, a triangular incision is made with a knife, about an inch deep, so as to penetrate through the cortex, and divide the sap vessels; each side of the triangle measures about, 6 inches, with one point downwards, in which is inserted a piece of grooved bamboo, along which the sap trickles, and from thence drops into an earthen pot suspended underneath it by a string.
The pots are suspended in the evening, and re moved very early the following morning, ere the sun has sufficient power to warm the juice, which would cause it immediately to ferment, and destroy its quality of crystallizing into sugar. The cutting being made in the afternoon, next morning the pot is found to contain, from a full-grown tree, 10 seers of juice, the second morning 4 seers, and the third morning 2 seers of juice ; the quantity exuding afterwards is so small, that no pot is sus pended for the next four days. Daily, at sunrise, throughout the gur or sugar-making season, the toddy-drawer may be seen climbing the trees, and collecting at a convenient spot beneath them, the earthen pots containing the juice yielded during the past night. Under a rude shed, covered with the leaves of the date tree itself, and erected under the shade of the plantation, is prepared the boil ing apparatus to serve for the gur season. It consists of a hole of about 3 feet in diameter, sunk about 2 feet in the ground, over which are supported by mud arches four thin earthen pans of a semi-globular shape, and 18 inches in diameter; the hole itself is the furnace, and has two aper tures on opposite sides for feeding in the fuel, and for escape of the smoke. The fire is lit as soon as the juice is collected, and poured into the four pans, which are kept constantly supplied with fresh juice as the water evaporates, until the whole produce of the morning is boiled down to the required density. As the contents of each pan become sufficiently boiled, they are ladled out into other earthen pots or jars of various sizes, from 5 to 20 seers of contents, according to local custom, and in these the boiled extract cools, crystallizes into a hard compound of granulated sugar and molasses, and is brought to market for sale as gur. By subsequent processes the gur is deprived more or less of its molasses and im purities.