Homemade Rooh Afza Concentrate

Rooh Afza. You either love it or hate it. If you grew up in the Indian subcontinent where the summers were particularly brutal, chances are you know the sheer relief this fragrant elixir is capable of delivering. I loved it. Still do. Whilst the original formulation included fruits, vegetables, flowers and herbs, today’s bottled concentrate is nothing more than an artificially colored and flavored highly concentrated refined sugar syrup. That doesn’t make me like it any less, but I really don’t need all the extra sugar (I’d rather save that for dessert). So, here’s a slightly healthier homemade alternative. This homemade version, sans the color (which, I do admit, is a large part of its appeal), tastes very similar to the bottled one. And I can happily settle for that.

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Recipe

Homemade Rooh Afza Concentrate

Mix together some raw honey (available online), rose water, kewra essence, a squeeze of lime and a pinch of salt to form a concentrate (adjust quantities to taste).

Add water and ice, stir and enjoy (you can even use this base for kulfi and falooda).

And for those who prefer to avoid even the honey, here’s the simplest hack to get your Rooh Afza fix... stir a drop of kewra essence into a glass of ice water.