Dantewada
Salfi is a sap-based drink extracted from the tree of the same name belonging to the date palm family.
Climbing the Salfi tree is no joke. The trees are tall and it requires skill on the part of the climber. In Masauri village of Dantewada district in Bastar sub-division, word has it that women aren’t allowed to climb the Salfi tree. The belief is that it makes the tree barren.
But CR Sori from the Dantewada forest department, who is an Adivasi himself, said it is not true that women aren’t allowed to climb the tree as his mother used to climb.
“People themselves grow the trees for the sap. Earlier, if a family had, for instance, five trees, the daughter also used to get one tree after marriage as a gift. The tree used to be in her name and whenever she came home she could use it,” he told The Indian Tribal.
Masauri village resident Shivram Maurya said the tree has no other use except the drink it produces. Almost every family grows the tree. It matures and starts yielding the sap within five to six years. Sometimes it takes 10 years too.
Maurya said whoever can climb the tree does it every time as everyone cannot do it. It takes courage as sometimes the head spins after the climb. The sap is extracted three times a day and a container is kept tied to the top.
A cut is made in the tree by the man who climbs it and the white liquid oozing out is collected in a container. Later, the scum on the upper portion of the drink is removed and Salfi is poured into glasses for guests.
It is better to drink Salfi juice fresh. The longer it is kept in the sun, the more intoxicating it becomes. But fresh Salfi tastes like tender coconut water and is white in colour.
