Milk wine in the Sri Lankan diaspora

Burghers began emigrating in large numbers in the 1950s and 1960s, especially to Australia, as language and employment policies changed after independence. Melbourne and Perth have large Burgher communities, as do Sydney and Adelaide.

Sri Lankan Christians of Sinhala and Tamil background also emigrated, to Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and the Gulf. Toronto has a large Sri Lankan community, as do London and its suburbs.

These communities keep many traditions, and Christmas food is among the strongest. Community associations hold Christmas parties, and churches with Sri Lankan congregations hold carol services and fairs.

The biggest change is the spirit. Sri Lankan arrack is not always easy to find abroad, so many families use brandy, which some old recipes already allowed, or rum. Where Sri Lankan grocers stock arrack, traditionalists seek it out.

Limes may be replaced by lemons, which are cheaper and easier to find in some countries. Supermarket full-cream milk works well. Spices are easy to find, though some families bring cinnamon from Sri Lanka because they find it better.

The method does not change: steep, mix, curdle with hot milk, rest, strain and bottle. The taste may be a little different, but the drink is recognisably the same.

For many families abroad, making milk wine at Christmas is about more than the drink. It is a way of passing on Sri Lankan heritage to children and grandchildren who may never have lived on the island.

Recipe notebooks brought from Sri Lanka are treasured, and younger family members learn by helping. Some families make milk wine together on a set weekend, just as their parents did in Colombo.

Community cookbooks published by Burgher associations abroad often include milk wine, along with breudher, love cake and lamprais.

In Australia, Christmas falls in summer, as in Sri Lanka, so milk wine served at room temperature on a hot afternoon feels familiar. In Britain and Canada, Christmas is cold and dark, and milk wine sits beside mince pies and mulled wine.

Some families abroad serve milk wine slightly chilled in hot weather, but most keep to the room-temperature tradition. In cold countries it fits naturally into the season.

Milk wine keeps as well abroad as at home, and some families post bottles to relatives or carry them as gifts within the country.

Gatherings abroad often mix generations and backgrounds. Partners and friends from other cultures are introduced to milk wine at Christmas parties, and some go on to make it themselves. In that way the tradition is spreading beyond the Sri Lankan community, much as it once spread from Burgher homes to other Christian families on the island.

Many members of the diaspora visit Sri Lanka in December to spend Christmas with relatives. For their children and partners, it can be the first chance to taste milk wine where it began.

Lankan Stays & Trails helps diaspora families plan December trips that combine family visits in Colombo or Negombo with travel around the island, so that the festive time with relatives fits around touring.

Visitors from these countries who are not of Sri Lankan heritage sometimes know milk wine from friends and are curious to try the original.

Diaspora visitors often take Sri Lankan arrack home to make milk wine, along with spices. Home-made milk wine can be carried in checked luggage in a sealed bottle, but check airline and customs rules.

Some take a bottle of a relative's milk wine home as a taste of the family recipe. Wrap it carefully and declare it if required.

A few families also carry spices, vanilla and jaggery from Colombo markets, convinced that the island's cinnamon in particular makes a better milk wine. Cinnamon sticks and cloves are light, keep well and are generally allowed through customs in sealed packs, though rules on plant products vary, so check before packing.