Sekanjabin

 

Iranians are the kings  or queens of unique drinks. Specifically unique non-alcoholic drinks. I mean we literally have a fizzy yogurt drink. The list goes on and on, from fizzy yogurt drinks to sour cherry drinks or even a drink made from teff. Yeah look that baby up.

But for me one of the coolest drinks is the sweet summer concoction made primarily from vinegar, sugar, and water. Those three simple ingredients yield a sweet and sour simple syrup that serves as the essential base for any great summertime drink.

Persians call this drink Sekanjibin (Seh-Can-Jeh-Bean), it translates to vinegar and honey (roughly, not literally). Today people use regular sugar instead of honey, but you probably could use honey it just would make the experience more pricey.

I remember my Mom and Grandma making this all the time during the summer, as a kid you don’t really know what to expect from it, because it smells like vinegar (sort of). Plus they shred cucumber in it typically, so your little kid brain is like, “WTF, who ordered drink salad?”

But this in fact a really great drink that you can flavor with all kinds of essences while you’re making it. Lots of people use mint, but you could try any other kind of flavor you want to play with.

Recipe – Sekanjabin

Ingredients

2 Cups White Sugar

2 Cups Water

1/2 Cup White Vinegar

Handful of Mint

Method

Mix water and sugar together in large pot. Mix well and bring to a gentle boil. Once the mixture is boiling, add your vinegar, reduce until the mixture becomes syrupy. As it reduces you can throw in fresh bunches of mint to give the syrup a minty flavor, just spoon them out before storing them.

Once the mixture has thickened (about 20 minutes), allow it to cool and then pour into a sturdy glass jar. Refrigerate (keeps for a few months).

Pour a few tablespoons of the syrup over ice in a glass, add a few sprigs of fresh mint, then add water.

Typically people will peel and grate a persian cucumber and use that to garnish the drink.

Enjoy