Bengali Bites: Lebur Jol

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Morgan Kong

Wingspan’s Ananda Ghoshal delves deeper into the world of Bengali food and shares her thoughts.

Ananda Ghoshal, Staff Reporter

Summer is literally right around the corner- I can definitely tell from the scorching hot and humid weather we’ve been having. You know what that means? Summer pool parties, lemonade stands and feeling like you can’t be outside for more than a few minutes without possibly getting heat stroke. Every summer though, my mom will make a certain type of limeade we call “Lebur Jol” – it literally means “Lemon Water”. It’s so refreshing and it’s my favorite thing to drink in those hot temperatures. I’m glad that this is one of the many things I get to enjoy now that summer break is starting.

My mom used to make this in India but used a more fragrant lime- the entire essence of this otherwise easily concocted drink – called a Gondhoraj. A Meyer lemon works too, but it has to be able to make fresh, pale green lime juice. After that, it is infused with mint leaves to create a deep mint scented concentrate. It’s very sweet and salty and like a lot of the food I talk about, it brings back a lot of memories for me. I remember going to India, meeting relatives in their apartments and being served this sweet and salty drink and just talking for hours on end. I mean now, we can video chat and basically do the same thing but it felt more fresh and intimate.