Black Sugarcane Infusion 黑皮甘蔗凉茶

This infusion is made with Black Sugarcane. In Chinese it is called 黑皮甘蔗 or 药蔗. You can google this can see lots of pictures of this beautiful sugarcane.

There's a lady who lived near my brother and she often comes by the house to chat. One day while my mom brought Hannah to tuition class opposite this lady's house, she asked my mom whether she wants to have some black sugarcane. Of course my mom won't said no. And this lady gladly pulled up 2 stalks of this sugarcane, chopped it into smaller pieces, packed it into some strong HDPE rice bag and handed it over to my mom. My mom happily brought them home.

I was lucky to be there the day mom got them. And she made me this wonderful drink.

Just in case some one gives you a bunch of this or there are lots in you backyard, here's how to do it. Works the same way with any other sugarcanes. We like it plain. Plainly sugarcane. A lot of people will add in other herbs, but we don't. Feel free to do what you like.

 

1. With a sharp knife, clean the nodes by paring off any roots or hardy parts.
2. Wash sugar cane and cut them into smaller pieces to fit your pot.
3. Use a mallet or pestle or a hammer, hit the sugarcane until it splits.
4. Put them into a pot and cover with water.
5. Bring to a boil and simmer on low heat for 3 hours. There is no need to sweeten with sugar.

*If the sugarcane is still flavourful, you can boil with some more water (but not full amount) and mix with the first infusion.

So, how do the plant look like

And how do other sugarcanes look like

And of course there is the red sugarcane, but I don't have a picture of it :)
Red sugarcane stems look like black sugarcane. But to distinguish it, look at the leaves. Leaves of the black sugarcane is green and organized.
And the red variety's leaves are red and not so nicely upright..

And the final cup of the infusion, I let you drink.... ok??

All pictures (except for 3 in the instructons part) are taken with my phone :)
I can't believe that it can produce such pictures :)

But now, it's lost.. gone at the disabled washroom in Ikano's LG floor, near Manhattan Fish Market.
I went in there to change Lyanne's diapers cos she was so wet, then I accidently hurt her while buckling her on her stroller. She cried so loud that I forgot about everything else.  Then stupid me only realised my missing bag after 10 minutes. Somebody already took my bag to the info counter and somebody also took my phone.
It's not an expensive phone, but sigh... all my contacts gone.

Luckily I was with Pei-Lin, she looked after Lyanne while I ran looking for my bag. And when I realised the phone was missing 20 minutes later, (yeah I only know that it was missing when it was time to call Mike), Pei-Lin lent me her phone to call hubby dearest. I'm glad I was with her that day.

I can't retrieve my numbers via my service provider, as I have never subscribed to their back up service,
And I can't block the phone using the IMEI number because this service do not exist in Malaysia. One can only block the number and SIM card, but not the phone.  Maxis's Customer Assistance over the phone went all blank when I asked him about blocking phone using IMEI. He totally didn't know what was I talking about and keep asking me my number and block that instead, even when I've told him few times, this is my new SIM card and the old one was already blocked, and a new SIM was issued. Maybe his ears were made of wood or that he needs some cotton bud.

*****Sigh.. *****
I'm now using my old Nokia.. wonder when will my new phone come.............................
***** Sigh  *****