Frolic Beverages Pte Ltd
Frolic Beverages Pte Ltd, Incorporated in Singapore, has been formed to produce and promote cashew apple based liquors (FENI)
Spirits
Cashew was introduced to the Malabar Coast by the Portuguese from Brazil in the 16th century and subsequently got introduced into Goa – then a colony of the Portuguese. The cashew tree’s fruit is the kidney-shaped cashew nut, and what is called the cashew apple is a false fruit, botanically a (swollen) pedicel. With high levels of sugar (6.7-10.5%) and its characteristic rapid fermentation it makes a good distilling agent. However, distilling of the cashew apple into Feni appears to be the exclusive cultural repertoire of Goa and – some a cionado drinkers would argue – more specially North Goa. While alcohol is a common cultural artefact across societies and time with a variety of deep ritualistic meanings, the origins of distilling alcohol tend to remain mysterious. Distilling is a few, but important, steps beyond a mere knowledge of fermentation, requiring an understanding of the process of collecting and condensing the vapours and that the concentration of alcohol increases with each distillation. It is generally believed that the Greeks of Alexandria knew of distilling, and the Arabs used distilling to obtain essential oils. This history proceeds to suggest that distillation of alcohol developed in Western Europe in the 12th century. However, based on archaeological evidence from present-day North-West Frontier Province, it has been suggested that the art of distilling alcohol might have originated there and is ‘India’s gift to the world’. So, Feni might itself herald a wider move of recognition of this heritage and tradition.