This is an article written quite some time ago. Just
sharing it with those new on this list. It would be
nice to feature more senior citizens of the village.
Incidentally, together with IXTT (the Konkani weekly),
some of us are starting a journalism-e-mentoring
project for youngsters. If you know anyone in
Saligao who might be interested (below 25), do pass
on the word and kindly ask them to get in touch. FN
PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST... AS A WINE-MAKER
By Frederick Noronha
fred at bytesforall dot org
He has played many roles in life: scout-master, artist, teacher, a Jesuit...
but none so unusual as that of being a wine-maker. Edwin Saldanha's book on
the subject, which he penned without much thought due to the badgering of
some friends, has not only entered a second edition but also promises to
block no secrets about this unusual art.
"Let me boast a little," says Saligao-based Saldanha, now 85-years-old. "My
book is the only one in the whole world that tells you how to make wine from
tropical fruits." For instance, it has recipes on how to make wine from
mangoes, bananas, cashews, and even the local fruit known as kokum (bindnna)
or jambul.
Secrets of successful wine-making are considered to form an ancient
tradition, which has often been closely-guarded by many cultures. But
Saldanha's 'Successful Goan Home Wines' says it "exposes these secrets to
amateurs through... time-tested techniques".
Appreciation has come in from far and wide. When this writer wrote a review
of an earlier edition for a newspaper in Bangalore, the publisher said
orders came in for over 70 copies of the unusual title.
"Some boys from South Africa tasted it and said it really tastes like sherry
(the blended, fortified wine from Spain that varies from very light to dark
brown in colour). Yet it was wine made from the cheapest possible fruit you
could use in Goa -- cashew."
One lady from Germany brought in cream of sherry. "Believe it or not, it's
no different from my wine," says Saldanha.
This octogenarian former schoolteacher at St Britto's (Mapusa) and earlier a
prominent scout-master in the Goa scouting movement, has a strange story of
how this book came to be. "This book saw the light of day because of Dr
Nandkumar Kamat (a microbiologist and environmentalist from Goa, deeply
interested in researching various aspects of local life)," he says, and
narrates how he was egged on to put his knowledge on paper.
It happened that he was recovering from an operation, when Dr Kamat dropped
in for a visit with a government official. On being offered a glass of wine,
the visitors were intrigued over how it was made. "They begged me to put
down on paper how it was done, before I die," says Saldanha.
He put together a rough manuscript, which they polished up. "My biggest
surprise was when they came after a month, with the artwork, and clicked a
photograph of myself, in a new shirt, for the back-cover (of the first
edition that came out half-a-dozen years ago)."
Saldanha's wine-making skills run deep.
"I've make wine from everything. One journalist asked me, 'Uncle, what
*don't* you make wine from?" says Saldanha, who jokes that this can be done
even from the soles of old shoes! "I've been making wine as a boy of 13 or
14. My mother too was interested in wine-making," says he.
Saldanha, at one stage in his life, joined the Catholic religious order of
the Jesuits. Based in Belgaum, outside Goa, the Jesuits then were caught in
the cross-fire between unfriendly ties between India and Portuguese-ruled
colonial Goa. So, they needed to make their own religious wine for mass,
since supplies from Goa were then blocked.
This was done in a roundabout way. In those days, India didn't have grape
orchards. So, dry raisins were imported from Greece. These were soaked in
wooden barrels, to make wine. "It's very simple. Dry raisins kept in boiling
water, stored overnight, act much like grapes do (in the wine-making
process)," he points out.
In his view, the easiest fruit from which to make wine is, of course, grapes.
"There's the right proportion of yeast and sugar in grapes."
His own story gives an insight into the history of Goan migration, even in
the early and mid-twentieth century.
Saldanha was born in Entebbe, in colonial East Africa. "That time there were
no schools there, and parents used to send us to a European lady to learn
our ABC. At the age of eight, I was sent to Goa to do my primary education,
and got stuck here till 1949," he recalls, memory razor-sharp.
Later, he went back to spend two decades in East Africa. But, he says
sardonically, "By then, all the trees which used to grow gold coins had
already been shaken. Kenya was beginning to fight for Uhuru (or freedom...
and things were getting tough for the many Goan emigrants in that region)."
Saldanha quotes his Canada-based veterinarian son Kevin as saying there's
good demand for the book among even just relatives and friends in that part
of the globe. Incidentally, cities like Toronto have a Goan population that
runs into a few thousands, but all buyers of the book need not necessarily
be Goan. Even though the Rs 60 book (in it second edition, now out, it's
priced at Rs 80) is could easily be sold for five Canadian dollars a copy.
Someone reported back that they picked up the wine-making book from a
railway book-shop in Sydney, Australia. "Something which I did just as a
past-time has turned out to be quite a success," says he, with a tinge of
pride.
But what was his motivation?
"Every man and woman would like to do something which could help other
people. We should not die before we do something for the improvement or
happiness of others," he suggests.
Most wine-makers, unfortunately, believe that their secrets should never be
let out "because (they say) if too many keep trying to make wine, you get
sour wine," says Saldanha.
What makes wine different from, say, whiskey or liqueur? Wine is not
distilled. It is fermented, and the sugar in the fruit is converted to
alcohol, says Saldanha.
Women tend to prefer sweet wine, so sugar can be added -- in a process known
as 'doctoring' the wine. "There's no secret I know that I've knowingly kept
out of this book," says he, with a touch of pride about his openness in
sharing information and knowledge. A Dutch friend, visiting this
octogenarian-winemaker, commented that this attitude indeed reflected 'open
source' -- keeping knowledge free for being transmitted to whoever can use
it.
"You just try making one of the most unusual types of wines mentioned --
wine made of milk. Do try it," he challenges. Even scientists said it never
occurred to them that milk, when curdled, could be used to make wine, he
says. (There are two recipes for 'milk wine' in this book, and one requires
the use of condensed milk with sweet limes, sugar, nutmeg, a little Vodka
and other spices like cloves and cinnamon.
"Any young educated person can set up a complete industry by making wines on
a large scale. It was only when I visited Canada (to visit children abroad)
that I understood what 'large-scale' really means. They have 50 barrels of a
hundred gallons each, every day. Everything there is mechanised," he says.
Saldanha narrates how he managed to trace recipes of wine-making from a
priest in Nachinola village, even as these closely guarded recipes were
almost being consigned to the flames after the latter's death. "After he had
died, his sister-in-law was burning up all his 'useless' papers. In that was
one of the recipes," says he.
Saldanha says that places like Goa -- with its one-time Portuguese influence
-- had a tradition where affluent women retained closely-guarded secrets on
making wine. "They don't sell it, but only use it for festivals and feasts,
and make it in small quantities."
Other visitors to Goa also vouch that they've consumed wine, at some coastal
restaurants in South Goa villages like Benaulim, which was home-made.
Saldanha believes that some distillers of Goa's traditional liquors
-- including the traditional-brew feni -- use an adulterating chemical
substance popularly called 'navsagar' or diluted industrial alcohol to
produce more. This is done with little regard for the health of those
consuming it.
"Liquor being sold at Rs 30-40 per bottle is probably made by adding
Navsagar", says he. "Some of the feni you get in beautiful bottles with
beautiful labels could actually be poison. More genuine liquor should be
higher priced," says he.
He says some friends were urging him to write a book on cooking next. "My
style of cooking is to dump in some leaves or whatever I can lay my hands
on. Provided it tastes good. And if it doesn't taste good, just add one
Maggi cube," he says with his sardonic sense of humour and the twinkle in
his eye. For someone who encountered Saldanha as a wide-eyed 12-year-old
schoolboy, the problem remains that one simply doesn't know when to take him
seriously.
It might be a really good idea, we suggested.
"Oh, no," said he. "I've reached a stage where enough is enough. I'm angry
with that fellow upstairs. Because I've got a passport, but no visa," he
complains with mock ire.
"'He' says there's no need for artists up there. But then, I say, who'll
paint all those images of the many saints in heaven," he said, betraying
some hints of enjoying the joke.
Saldanha argues that a tiny bit of wine is healthy, specially after one
crosses two-score and ten. "(It's not good) for those young boys falling
down in gutters near the bars," says he. His advice: a small 40 to 60
milliliter peg, taken at food time, and well diluted for someone above 50.
This, he believes, could help digestion and circulation. (ENDS)
--
Frederick Noronha * Freelance Journalist * Goa * India 832.409490 / 409783
GOAPIX in.photos.yahoo.com/fredericknoronha * GOANEWS www.goacom.com/news/
Please visit http://www.livejournal.com/users/goalinks
Writing with a difference... on what makes *the* difference
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Frederick Noronha 784 Near Convent, Sonarbhat, SALIGAO, GOA India
Freelance Journalist TEL: +91-832-2409490 MOBILE: 9822122436
http://fn.swiki.net http://www.livejournal.com/users/goalinks
fred at bytesforall.org http://www.bytesforall.org
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