Chhaang
Encyclopedia
Chhaang or chang (Nectar of gods) is a Tibet
an/Sherpa
/Limbu
/Newari alcoholic beverage
also popular in parts of eastern Himalayas.
, Sikkim
(there it's also known as a tongba), Nepal/Newari also known as "thoo-n", Bhutan
and the Darjeeling Himalayan hill region
of West Bengal
with great enthusiasm. It is usually drunk at room temperature in summer, but is often served piping hot in brass bowls or wooden mugs when the weather is cold.
. Barley, millet
(finger-millet) or rice
is used to brew the drink. Semi-fermented
seeds of millet are served, stuffed in a barrel of bamboo
called the Dhungro. Then boiling water is poured and sipped through a narrow bore bamboo pipe called the Pipsing.
When the boiled barley has gone cold, some yeast
or dried barm
is added and it is left to stand for 2 or 3 days when fermentation begins when it is called glum. The barm consists of flour and, in Balti, at least, often has ginger
and aconite
added to it. After fermentation is complete, some water is added to it and is then ready for use.
In Lahaul and some other places the glum is pressed out by hand instead of by filtering, making quite a cloudy drink. The residue of malt can be pressed through a strainer and then mixed with water or milk and used instead of barm in baking bread or cakes.
Near Mt. Everest chaang is made by passing hot water through the fermenting barley, and is then served in a big pot and drunk through a wooden straw.
In Nepal, it is called tongba
by the Limbus
. There is another term called jand which refers to the turbid liquor obtained by leaching out the extract with water from the fermented mash. Unlike chhang or tongba, it is liberally served in large mugs. These alcoholic beverages are prepared by using traditional starter called murcha. Murcha is prepared by using yeast and mold flora of wild herbs in cereal flours.
The brew tastes like ale. Alcohol content is quite low, but it produces an intense feeling of heat and well-being, ideal for enduring the temperatures which go well below freezing in winter.
, fever
, allergic rhinitis
, alcoholism
etc.
According to legends, chhaang is also popular with the Yeti
, who often raid isolated mountain villages to drink it.
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
an/Sherpa
Sherpa people
The Sherpa are an ethnic group from the most mountainous region of Nepal, high in the Himalayas. Sherpas migrated from the Kham region in eastern Tibet to Nepal within the last 300–400 years.The initial mountainous migration from Tibet was a search for beyul...
/Limbu
Limbu people
The Yakthung or Limbu tribes and clans belong to the Kirati nation or to the Kirat confederation.They are indigenous to the hill and mountainous regions of east Nepal between the Arun and Mechi rivers to as far as Southern Tibet, Bhutan and Sikkim....
/Newari alcoholic beverage
Alcoholic beverage
An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits. They are legally consumed in most countries, and over 100 countries have laws regulating their production, sale, and consumption...
also popular in parts of eastern Himalayas.
Geographical prevalence
Chhaang is consumed by the people of TibetTibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
, Sikkim
Sikkim
Sikkim is a landlocked Indian state nestled in the Himalayan mountains...
(there it's also known as a tongba), Nepal/Newari also known as "thoo-n", Bhutan
Bhutan
Bhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China...
and the Darjeeling Himalayan hill region
Darjeeling Himalayan hill region
Darjeeling Himalayan hill region or Darjeeling Himalaya is the mountainous area on the North-Western side of the state of West Bengal in India. This region belongs to the Eastern Himalaya range. The whole of the Darjeeling district except the Siliguri subdivision constitutes the region. It arises...
of West Bengal
West Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
with great enthusiasm. It is usually drunk at room temperature in summer, but is often served piping hot in brass bowls or wooden mugs when the weather is cold.
Ingredients and drinking
Chhaang is a relative of the more universally known beerBeer
Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
. Barley, millet
Millet
The millets are a group of small-seeded species of cereal crops or grains, widely grown around the world for food and fodder. They do not form a taxonomic group, but rather a functional or agronomic one. Their essential similarities are that they are small-seeded grasses grown in difficult...
(finger-millet) or rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
is used to brew the drink. Semi-fermented
Fermentation (food)
Fermentation in food processing typically is the conversion of carbohydrates to alcohols and carbon dioxide or organic acids using yeasts, bacteria, or a combination thereof, under anaerobic conditions. Fermentation in simple terms is the chemical conversion of sugars into ethanol...
seeds of millet are served, stuffed in a barrel of bamboo
Bamboo
Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....
called the Dhungro. Then boiling water is poured and sipped through a narrow bore bamboo pipe called the Pipsing.
When the boiled barley has gone cold, some yeast
Yeast
Yeasts are eukaryotic micro-organisms classified in the kingdom Fungi, with 1,500 species currently described estimated to be only 1% of all fungal species. Most reproduce asexually by mitosis, and many do so by an asymmetric division process called budding...
or dried barm
Barm
Barm cake is type of bun with flour on top. It has a characteristically strong flavour that comes from the traditional barm leaven made from a natural leaven with the addition of hops. However, the Barm Cake is more likely made from commercial yeast today....
is added and it is left to stand for 2 or 3 days when fermentation begins when it is called glum. The barm consists of flour and, in Balti, at least, often has ginger
Ginger
Ginger is the rhizome of the plant Zingiber officinale, consumed as a delicacy, medicine, or spice. It lends its name to its genus and family . Other notable members of this plant family are turmeric, cardamom, and galangal....
and aconite
Aconite
Aconite may refer to:*Aconitum, a plant genus containing the monkshoods*Aconitine, "the queen of poisons", a toxin derived from some of the Aconitum genus plants*Winter aconite, a plant in the genus Eranthis...
added to it. After fermentation is complete, some water is added to it and is then ready for use.
- "If proper care is taken (and the people of ÜÜ-TsangÜ-Tsang , or Tsang-Ü, is one of the three traditional provinces of Tibet, the other two being Amdo and Kham. Geographically Ü-Tsang covered the central and western portions of the Tibetan cultural area, including the Tsang-po watershed, the western districts surrounding and extending past Mount...
and LadakhLadakhLadakh is a region of Jammu and Kashmir, the northernmost state of the Republic of India. It lies between the Kunlun mountain range in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south, inhabited by people of Indo-Aryan and Tibetan descent...
generally do so), the pale beer, thus obtained, is not amiss, and sparkles a good deal, but not being hopped it does not keep long."
In Lahaul and some other places the glum is pressed out by hand instead of by filtering, making quite a cloudy drink. The residue of malt can be pressed through a strainer and then mixed with water or milk and used instead of barm in baking bread or cakes.
Near Mt. Everest chaang is made by passing hot water through the fermenting barley, and is then served in a big pot and drunk through a wooden straw.
In Nepal, it is called tongba
Tongba
Tongba is a millet-based alcoholic beverage found in the far eastern mountainous region of Nepal and the neighbouring Darjeeling and Sikkim districts of India. It is the traditional and indigenous drink of the Limbu people of eastern Nepal....
by the Limbus
Limbu people
The Yakthung or Limbu tribes and clans belong to the Kirati nation or to the Kirat confederation.They are indigenous to the hill and mountainous regions of east Nepal between the Arun and Mechi rivers to as far as Southern Tibet, Bhutan and Sikkim....
. There is another term called jand which refers to the turbid liquor obtained by leaching out the extract with water from the fermented mash. Unlike chhang or tongba, it is liberally served in large mugs. These alcoholic beverages are prepared by using traditional starter called murcha. Murcha is prepared by using yeast and mold flora of wild herbs in cereal flours.
The brew tastes like ale. Alcohol content is quite low, but it produces an intense feeling of heat and well-being, ideal for enduring the temperatures which go well below freezing in winter.
Myth
It is said to be the best remedy to ward off the severe cold of the mountains. It reputedly has many healing properties for conditions like common coldCommon cold
The common cold is a viral infectious disease of the upper respiratory system, caused primarily by rhinoviruses and coronaviruses. Common symptoms include a cough, sore throat, runny nose, and fever...
, fever
Fever
Fever is a common medical sign characterized by an elevation of temperature above the normal range of due to an increase in the body temperature regulatory set-point. This increase in set-point triggers increased muscle tone and shivering.As a person's temperature increases, there is, in...
, allergic rhinitis
Allergic rhinitis
Allergic rhinitis, also known as pollenosis or hay fever, is an allergic inflammation of the nasal airways.It occurs when an allergen, such as pollen, dust or animal dander is inhaled by an individual with a sensitized immune system...
, alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
etc.
According to legends, chhaang is also popular with the Yeti
Yeti
The Yeti or Abominable Snowman is an ape-like cryptid said to inhabit the Himalayan region of Nepal, and Tibet. The names Yeti and Meh-Teh are commonly used by the people indigenous to the region, and are part of their history and mythology...
, who often raid isolated mountain villages to drink it.
Social correlates
Drinking and making offerings of chhaang is a part of different social and religious occasions, from settling disputes, welcoming guests, to wooing.See also
- RaksiRaksiRaksi or Rakshi is a traditional distilled alcoholic beverage in Tibet and Nepal. It is often made at home.Raksi is usually made from kodo millet or rice; different grains produce different flavors. It can even be made from mulberries...
- Tibetan and Nepalese distilled alcoholic beverage. Jand, chhaang or other rice wines can be used for the distillation, which is traditionally carried out in single column distillation assembly. - Tibetan beerTibetan beerThe production of beer in Tibet is a relatively recent phenomenon given the traditional prohibition of alcohol consumption in Tibetan Buddhism. After annexing Tibet, the Chinese established the Lhasa Brewery Company which is located in Lhasa...
- TongbaTongbaTongba is a millet-based alcoholic beverage found in the far eastern mountainous region of Nepal and the neighbouring Darjeeling and Sikkim districts of India. It is the traditional and indigenous drink of the Limbu people of eastern Nepal....