COOLING DRINK FOR THE HOT WEATHER

I went and bought some red sugar cane from the market this morning for my mum to make into a herbal drink.  The weather these past few weeks has been unbearably hot and so it is advisable to drink something cooling to reduce heatiness.  Besides the red sugar cane which costs RM2.00 for a bunch, I also bought a pack of cane sugar. The seller helped me to cut the sugar cane into smaller lengths (about 4 to 5 inches) so that it would be easier to put into the pot.  The lady also helped to scrape off some of the peels and also the roots sticking to the cane.

Once we reached our house, my mum washed the sugar cane.

She then proceeded to split them up and crush them with a pestle.

My Aunt Linda had cleaned and scrubbed the water chestnuts that I also bought from the market.  Some people peel the water chestnuts but my mum says that the vitamins and other good stuff are contained in the peel and so should be boiled as it is.  However, she did pound on them a bit as she said it would be easier for the flavour to come out.  Both my mum and aunt said that it was not necessary to add the cane sugar as the red sugar cane was sweet enough.  Besides, both of them have an aversion for sugar since they have diabetes.

This is how the boiled drink looks like in the pot after being boiled for an hour. We had already drunk some of the herbal drink.  Some people add ginseng root and barley to make this drink tastier.

The delicious and cooling red sugar cane boiled with water chestnut herbal drink.  SLURP  ....