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PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST... AS A
WINE-MAKER
By Frederick Noronha
fred@bytesforall.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)
--
Saligao-based Frederick Noronha is Goa's most high profile
journalist in cyberspace. This interview was done with Edwin
Saldanha some five years ago.
This article is published under the Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
2.5 license. See
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ (c)
Frederick Noronha. 2006. Some rights reserved.
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