Summer is here in Goa and so is the season’s urrak

Panaji, March 5 : To a Goaphile, the first signs of summer in the coastal paradise have little to do with the obvious change in weather.
The advent of summer in Goa can be gauged by the aroma wafting through the doors and tiny windows of traditional taverns or from those hundreds of makeshift distilleries which crop up near cashew plantations, brewing the season’s urrak.
This single-distilled cousin to feni is the pride of every bar and tavern worth its salt in Goa, once the sun sheds its temperate winter skin.
“Being a seasonal fruit, urrak is distilled in the months of March-April and is best consumed fresh. Locals prefer urrak over any other liquor brands, as it is exclusively available during this time of the year and people eagerly wait for its arrival. The best way to have urrak is with a lemonade or Limca and a dash of lime and chilly,” says chef Sandip Madkaikar, assistant professor – Food Production at V.M. Salgaocar Institute of International Hospitality Education.
The cashew plant was introduced to Goa by the Portuguese in the 1700s and believed to be shipped across the oceans from Brazil. Native Goans, according to former secretary of the Goa chapter of the Botanical Society of Goa India, Miguel Braganza, have been swilling the brew squeezed out of heady cashew-apples since.
“The cashew was introduced in Goa in 1740. Goans have been drinking urrak from the late 1700s,” says Braganza.