Khus Syrup or Khus Sharbat is a cooling and fragrant summer drink made from dried khus grass roots or vetiver. This homemade recipe does not contain any synthetic colors and preservatives.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 12 minutes
  • Cook time: 25 minutes
  • Total time: 37 minutes
  • Yield: 1 · 1 litre
  • Category: Beverages
  • Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

  • 60 to 70 grams khus roots (or vetiver (ramacham in malayalam))
  • 5 cups water (or about 1 litre water)
  • 4 cups raw sugar (- 600 grams, can add white sugar instead)

Method

Preparation

  1. First separate the roots if you can.
  2. Rinse the roots very well in water to remove any mud or tiny stone particles.
  3. Chop the roots with the kitchen scissor. Soak for 8 hours in water or overnight.
  4. Strain through a juice strainer and collect the extract.

Making khus syrup

  1. Add sugar to the extract and stir.
  2. Keep the khus extract on the stovetop and keep on stirring so that the sugar dissolves.
  3. Once the solution starts boiling, continue cooking for some more minutes. The syrup has to be sticky or can be of ½ thread consistency.
  4. Filter the hot syrup directly in a clean glass jar or you can filter in a bowl or pan and then pour the syrup in a clean sterilized jar or bottle.
  5. Immediately cover tightly with the lid and let it cool at room temperature.
  6. Once cooled, refrigerate the khus syrup.
  7. Dissolve ¼ or ⅓ part of the khus syrup with water (at room temperature or cold) and your khus sharbat or drink is ready.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.