Chhaang

This article is about the Tibetan beverage. For Chang (Thai beer), see ThaiBev.

Chhaang or chang (Tibetan: ཆང་; Wylie: chang) (Nectar of gods) is a Tibetan/Sherpa/Limbu/Newari alcoholic beverage also popular in parts of eastern Himalayas.

Geographical prevalence

Chhaang is consumed by the people of Tibet, 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.

Ingredients and drinking

Chhaang is a relative of the more universally known beer. 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.^[1] After fermentation is complete, some water is added to it and is then ready for use.^[2]

"If proper care is taken (and the people of Ü and Ladakh 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."^[3]

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.^[4]

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.^[5]

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,^{[citation needed]} 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 cold, fever, allergic rhinitis, alcoholism etc.

According to legends, chhaang is also popular with the Yeti, 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.^[6]

See also

	Drink portal
	Beer portal

• Raksi - 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 beer
• Tongba

References

1. ^ Jaschke, H. Ä. A Tibetan-English Dictionary, p. 341. (1881). Reprint: (1987). Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi. ISBN 81-208-0321-3.
2. ^ Das, Sarat Chandra. (1902). Lhasa and Central Tibet, p. 23 and note. Reprint: (1988). Mehra Offset Press, Delhi.
3. ^ Jaschke, H. Ä. A Tibetan-English Dictionary, p. 154. (1881). Reprint: (1987). Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi. ISBN 81-208-0321-3.
4. ^ Jaschke, H. Ä. A Tibetan-English Dictionary, p. 154. (1881). Reprint: (1987). Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi. ISBN 81-208-0321-3.
5. ^ Mayhew, Bradley and Kohn, Michael. (2005) Tibet. 6th Edition, p. 75. ISBN 1-74059-523-8.
6. ^ http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Afghanistan-to-Bosnia-Herzegovina/Bhutanese.html

External links

• Recipe