What is a toddy?

By Chelsie Vandaveer

January 2, 2004

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For centuries, inhabitants of tropical areas have tapped palms for their sap. The sweet liquid provided energy as well as fluids in the hot climate. Three species of palms were regularly tapped in tropical Asia and the associated islands of the Indonesian archipelago—the sugar or wine date palm (Phoenix sylvestris Roxburgh), the palmyra (Borassus flabellifer Linnaeus), and the coconut (Cocos nucifera Linnaeus).

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Sugar date palms are native to bottom land soils along rivers in northern India and Pakistan. The palmyra prefers drier habitats and was found in India, Southeast Asia, and on the islands of Sri Lanka and New Guinea. The coconut was a castaway growing on sandy soils wherever the large seed landed. The palms were tapped by slicing into the peduncle (main stem) of the inflorescence. A bamboo cane, bottle gourd, or coconut shell was tied below the cut to receive the dripping sap.

Although palm sap could be used immediately, it was preferentially used to make two products—jaggery and toddy. Jaggery, jaghury, or goor is a coarse brown sugar made by heating the sap to evaporate the water. "Jaggery" entered the English language in 1598 and appears related to kejur, khakri, khajuri, or khujjoor, just a few of the many names of the sugar date palm in India. (Name listing from "Phoenix sylvestris", C. Parmar and M.K. Kaushal, Wild Fruits, Kalyani Publishers, 1982)

Palm sap, if left to stand for a few hours, ferments. James A. Duke ("Phoenix dactylifera", Handbook of Energy Crops, 1983) mentioned that date palm sap collected in the morning can have as much as five percent alcohol content by evening.

The highly intoxicating sap was a very popular drink. The toddy probably first 'entertained' English sailors who visited the East Indies since it entered into the English language in 1609. The name is thought derived from tārī or tādī, the Indian name for the palmyra.

The Palm and Cycad Societies of Australia have posted pages about each of Asian palms used to make jaggery and toddy. For more information and to view photographs of the sugar date palm, click on the link:

http://www.pacsoa.org.au/palms/Phoenix/sylvestris.html

For more information and photographs of the palmyra, click on the link:

http://www.pacsoa.org.au/palms/Borassus/flabellifer.html

And for a lovely tropical beach with coconut palms, click on the link:

http://www.pacsoa.org.au/palms/Cocos/nucifera.html

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