India adventure—the 21st country I have visited (3)

Foods I tried

Kwai. In Indonesia we call it kinang. But this Kwai is a bit different. They use betel nut, betel leaves and a bit of lime. They gave us kwai to welcome people to their village. The taste is very dry, astringent and if you don’t use to, it will make you feel dizzy. In Yogyakarta, especially, we call it kinang. It consist of betel leaves, lime, gambier, tobacco, and sometimes with magnolia alba flower. I have never tried the Yogyakarta version anyway.


Indian goose berry. It tastes very astringent, and potent, but after eating eat, there are kind of reaction that makes our tongue tastes some fruity, sweet, sour, and different flavor changing on the mouth. That is very interesting. I really wonder what the reaction is going on.

Indian goose berry

Coffee bean with butter and honey from Ethiopia. I tried this in the food festival. As I remember, (this might be not accurate due to my short term memory) and have been confirmed with Jonas, the coffee bean was roasted, and then cracked a bit, and then mixed with butter and honey. The mixture was then kept in a traditional clay container. The taste is not bitter, but it reminds me of old cheese and almond.

Honey at Taste Workshop

1. Honey from Nagaland, protected area in India.

• a. Rock bee – wild honey bee, reared underground, below 5-6 feet or from tree cavities, very little produced – bitter sweet, smoked a bit, seperti obat batuk
• b. Episerela – sweet like sweetened condensed milk
• c. Stingless bee – sour sweet, potent, like goose berry

2. Honey from Milgiri, western Ghats

• a. Etisfloria – sour
• b. Stingless – very sweet
• c. Basket hives – very bitter, potent, seperti obat
• d. High bee - milky

3. I forgot where these came from

• a. Very sweet, the color is like glucose syrup, berry
• b. Like wine and a bit smoky flavour

4. Honey from Meghalaya

• a. Episerela – golden brown, nutmeg
• b. Dosata/Bisachi – light yellow, and very light, no specific flavour.

Insects at Taste Workshop

1. Red ant chutney. Fried ant grinded with garlic, coconut, cumin, and sesame seed. It taste hot, formic acid, and a bit sour note.
2. Letocorisa oratoius. Enak, berempah, seperti rebung, sengau, rasa daun ketumbar, jahe, seperti mustard, pedas.
3. Eri silk worm. Fried and in the form of chutney. Yang digoreng seperti chick pea goring, tapi jauh lebih lunak. A bit fishy.
4. Mixed insects with purple sweet potato puree. Ada 6 macam serangga. Ulat pink rasanya kayak udang. Belalangnya direbus sampai berkurang airnya, dikasih jahe, bawang putih dan garam. Edible spider, aku gak berani coba. Honey bee, ada yang putih dan yang hitam, aku gak coba. Bamboo worm, aku gak coba. Ulat merah/carpenter worm, wangi formic acid, ketika digigit, jusnya keluar. Pureenya enak banget. Serangganya aku lebih seneng liatin aja. Takjub liatnya, terus waktunya udah habis jadi gak sempat nyoba.