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Alcoholic drinks from Ladakh, India

Chhang (Ladakh barley beer) with phabschhang

Ladakhi chhang is a home barley beer. Boiled barley is cooled, mixed with powdered phabs tablets, kept warm in a cloth bag under straw for two to five days, then sealed in an earthen pot for about a week. Water is poured over the mash several times and the filtrates are blended into a sour drink of 5–7 % alcohol.

Fully documentedAlcoholic drinks5.1 days – 15 daysFamily: Chhaang (Tibetan and Himalayan barley beer)

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceFor 5 kg of barley, as recorded in Leh and Khaltsi villages by Targais and colleagues (2012).
Barley grains, cleaned of dried peas5 kg[targais2012]
Water, for boiling10 L[targais2012]
Phabs tablets (1.3–1.7 g each), ground to powder3 tablets in summer, up to 7 in winterOne-year-old phabs is preferred[targais2012][angmo2014]
Water for extractionAdded until the fermented grains are submerged, three or four times[targais2012]
Starterkoji/qu/mold-starter: phabs, dry tablets of roasted barley flour

Total time across the recorded steps: 5.1 days – 15 days

Start
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pH 6.5

What changes: Barley boils on a low fire until it soaks up all the water

Step 1 of 5
Boil the barley
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
pH 6.5
Measured
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Output: boiled grain (lhums).

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Ladakhi chhang is a home barley beer. Boiled barley is cooled, mixed with powdered phabs tablets, kept warm in a cloth bag under straw for two to five days, then sealed in an earthen pot for about a week. Water is poured over the mash several times and the filtrates are blended into a sour drink of 5–7 % alcohol. Made in 5 steps over 5.1 days – 15 days. The longest step, seal in an earthen pot and ferment, takes 3–10 days (Targais K 2012). Saccharomyces cerevisiae does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step3–10 daysReported[targais2012]Seal in an earthen pot and ferment
Temperature28–32 °CReported[targais2012]Cool on a yak-hair canvas
AciditypH 6.5 → 4.03Measured[targais2012]Seal in an earthen pot and ferment

What makes this one different

Ladakhi chhang uses phabs, dry tablets of roasted barley, and the grain first ferments in a warm cloth bag before it is sealed in a pot. The mash is washed out three or four times and the filtrates are blended by taste.

Related ferments

Variants

  • AarakA clear spirit distilled from the barley mash; once common on special occasions, now made less often.
  • BozaIn a hurry, a little fermented grain is crushed in water and the suspension is drunk at once.
  • KholakChhang mixed with barley flour, a food of shepherds.

Safety

In the past the shrub Aconitum (bonya) and smoke powder were mixed into phabs to make a stronger drink; the practice stopped because of alcoholism. Aconitum contains aconitine, which can cause severe arrhythmia and neurotoxicity (Gao 2020).

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Chhang offered by the groom's maternal uncle forms part of a marriage proposal, and villagers bring it when a child is born. Women in traditional dress welcome lamas and guests with chapskans of chhang. A 2015 travel report found that chang was not sold in Leh because households make their own, and was served to guests mixed with tsampa, roasted barley flour.

  1. [targais2012] Targais K., Stobdan T., Mundra S., Ali Z., Yadav A., Korekar G., Singh S.B. 2012, Chhang, a barley based alcoholic beverage of Ladakh, India, Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge 11(1):190–193 (read via a web.archive.org copy)paper
  2. [angmo2014] Angmo K., Bhalla T.C. 2014, Preparation of phabs, an indigenous starter culture for production of traditional alcoholic beverage, chhang, in Ladakh, Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge 13(2):347–351 (read via a web.archive.org copy)paper
  3. [wallack2015] Wallack D. 2015, Barley Wine in the Abode of Snow, Roads & Kingdoms (travel report from Ladakh)web
  4. [gao2020] Gao X., Hu J., Zhang X., Zuo Y., Wang Y., Zhu S. 2020, Research progress of aconitine toxicity and forensic analysis of aconitine poisoning, Forensic Sciences Research 5(2) (abstract)paper