Types of toddy in Sri Lanka

Toddy is the sap of a palm's flower, collected by tappers who slice the flower stalk or spathe and hang a pot to catch the flow. Wild yeasts in the air and the pot start fermentation at once, and within hours the sweet sap becomes a cloudy, lightly fizzy alcoholic drink.

Toddy is drunk fresh, usually on the day it is tapped, in taverns, homes and villages. It cannot be stored for long, because fermentation continues and the drink turns sour and eventually to vinegar. That short life is why toddy is local and arrack, its distilled form, travels.

Toddy strength rises through the day, from almost nothing in very fresh sap to roughly four to eight per cent alcohol as fermentation runs its course.

Coconut toddy, raa in Sinhala and kallu in Tamil, is the island's main toddy. Tappers along the western coast, especially in the Kalutara District, walk ropes strung between palm crowns twice a day, collecting the sap that feeds both taverns and distilleries.

Coconut toddy tastes sweet, slightly sour and yeasty, with a fizz when fresh. Later in the day it becomes sharper and stronger. Sri Lankans drink it in simple toddy taverns, often in the late afternoon, sometimes with spicy snacks.

Coconut toddy is also used in cooking, most famously to leaven hoppers, the bowl-shaped rice pancakes, where its natural yeast gives a light, lacy texture.

Palmyrah toddy comes from the palmyrah, or fan palm, that dominates the landscape of the Jaffna peninsula and the dry north. Tapping runs through the dry season, roughly from the start of the year to August, and the toddy is drunk fresh in taverns and homes.

Palmyrah toddy tastes earthier and drier than coconut toddy, with a slightly savoury edge. Northern cooperatives distil some of it into palmyrah arrack, and the same sap is boiled into palmyrah jaggery, a staple of northern sweets.

For visitors, palmyrah toddy is part of the distinct food and drink culture of the north, alongside crab curry, odiyal kool and palmyrah sweets.

Kithul toddy comes from the fishtail palm of the wet zone and hill country. Most kithul sap is boiled into treacle and jaggery, which earn more, so kithul toddy is rarer and drunk mainly in villages where the palm is tapped.

When very fresh, kithul toddy is often described as sweeter and more delicate than coconut toddy. It is seldom sold in taverns outside kithul areas, so visitors usually meet it only on a guided village visit.

There is no licensed kithul arrack. Kithul's place in Sri Lankan drinking is as toddy and, above all, as the treacle that sweetens desserts and cocktails.

All three toddies change through the day. Morning toddy, fresh from the first round, is sweet, mild and lightly fizzy, with very little alcohol. By afternoon it is sharper, sourer and stronger. By the next day it is too sour for most drinkers and heading towards vinegar.

Preferences vary. Some drinkers like sweet morning toddy; others, especially regular tavern drinkers, prefer the stronger, sourer afternoon toddy. Taverns sell what was tapped that day, so the time of your visit shapes what you taste.

Distilleries want toddy at full fermentation but before it sours, which is why toddy for arrack is distilled within about a day of tapping.

Coconut toddy is easiest to find along the western coast. Lankan Stays & Trails can arrange a morning with a toddy tapper near Kalutara, where you can watch the rope walk and taste fresh toddy straight from the pot.

Palmyrah toddy is best tried on a trip to Jaffna, in the dry season. Kithul toddy needs a village visit in the hill country or wet zone, arranged through a guide.

Toddy taverns are simple, local places, mostly frequented by men. Go with a guide, drink in moderation and choose taverns that look clean and busy. Toddy is safe when fresh and from a trusted source; illicit spirit is a different matter.