Green Apple panna, a refreshing summer drink made out of green apples, seasoned with roasted cumin powder, black salt and mint leaves. This summer cooler, Panna, is synonym to summer season in India. Summer is the time when you most enjoy this fresh chilled drink that not only beat the heat but also helps in keep you hydrate and energize.
This green apple panna is inspired from a very popular North Indian drink known as “Aam Panna “, which is another regular at my place. This summer cooler is really good for kids as well, as they really enjoy the sweet, sour, tangy flavors of this homemade Green apple Panna.
Why Green Apple Panna?
Who doesn’t know the saying; an apple a day keeps the doctor away? Line any other variety of apple, Green apples have a lot of health benefits to offer. They are packed with nutrients, fiber, minerals and vitamins that are good for the overall health.
Green apples are low in fat, high in fiber and extra rich in Vitamin A & C. Apart from being an excellent source of various vitamins and minerals, green apples are quite rich in calcium content as well. Eating a green apple every day can strengthen bones and teeth as well.
In case of green apples, they are little sour and sweet in taste. Which means, Green apple panna doesn’t required lots of sweetener to balance out the flavors unlike green mangoes which are tarter and tangier.
What exactly is Panna?
Fresh green apple panna is a very delicious sweet and tangy summer cooler made with a tart fruit of your choice, fresh mint leaves, roasted cumin powder, black salt and sugar. It is very refreshing and have cooling properties because it uses significant amount of mint and black salt. If you find it interesting you may also like another panna recipe “Plum Panna” on my blog.
Cooking tips to make the best apple panna recipe
- Choose firm and fresh green apples without any bruises.
- This recipe uses 4 green apples and yield 8 cups of drink. Approximately one apple yield 2 cups of apple panna. That should be the consistency of drink.
- You can also use other variety of apples as well but the tartier the apples are the better the drink will taste. So, make sure to use only the tartier variety of apples for this recipe.
- If the green apples are more on sweeter side you might not need to add any sweetener to the drink. If the green apple panna is not tangy enough, then increase the quantity of lemon juice.
- Apple Panna stores well for a week in the refrigerator in an airtight container.
- For a healthier version, I have used crushed/powdered jaggery as it blends easily when pulsed with the Panna. But if you have no jaggery on hand, you can substitute it with sugar or coconut sugar or any other preferred sweetener in hand.
- You can also soak and seeded dates.
Recipe Notes:
Yes, you can use other variety of apples but remember use the tangy ones. Sweeter apples wouldn’t bring out the right flavors.
Making roasted cumin powder is very easy. Just roast handful of cumin seeds on low heat in a pan. Keep stirring and tossing for even browning and brown until you start getting nice aroma and dark brown color. Switch off the heat and let them cool down a bit, and then grind them into powder using a spice grinder or dry jar of nutri-bullet. Store in a clean and dry jar for later use.
Black rock salt or kala namak is easily available at amazon or if you have any Indian store nearby you can also find it there.
Do you know that fresh mint can be easily dried in shades and save for later use when you can’t find the fresh mint or when mint is not in season. When in abundance I always dry enough quantity of mint leaves. To make dry mint leaves powder sort the leaves and rinse them well. Then spread out these leaves on kitchen towel and allow them to dry under shade. Don’t dry them under the sun otherwise leaves will turn black. To maintain the color of the leaves, leaves should be dried in room or under the shade. It will take 3-4 days to entirely dry them. Once dry, the leaves will become crisp. Rub the dried leaves between your palm to powder them. Sieve the powdered mint leaves and store in air tight spice jar for later use.
Ingredients for Green Apple Panna:
Produce:
- Green Apples: 4 medium size apples/approximately 600 grams
- Ginger: 2 tablespoons grated / approximately 28 grams
- Lime Juice: 2 tablespoon fl. Oz. / juice of one lime
- Fresh Mint Leaves: one cup leaves/ approximately 28 grams
- Water: 4 cups divided (2 + 2)
- Ice: 4 cups
Spices:
- Jaggery: 2 tablespoon / 28 grams
- Salt: ½ tsp (adjust as per your taste)
- Black pepper powder: ½ tsp
- Black Rock Salt: 2 tsp
- Roasted Cumin Seeds Powder: 2 tsp
- Dry mint leaves powder: ½ tsp
How to make delicious Green Apple Panna?
- Whether you buy organic green apple or regular they are usually coated with an edible wax to increase the shelf life. To get rid of the wax coating, soak the green apples in hot water and vinegar solution (16:1) for 15-20 minutes. Hot water will help to melt the wax, then wash them under running water to remove any leftover wax and set aside.
- Now Chore and chop clean apples into cubes, no need to peel them. Add the chopped green apples to the inner pot of Instant Pot.
- Add 2 cups water and place the lid on and pressure cook on high pressure for one minute. Make sure the venting knob is in the sealing position.
- Allow the pressure to release naturally. Once the pin drops, carefully open the Instant Pot. After the apples are boiled, they will lose their vibrant, rich green color and may not look pleasing, which is absolutely fine.
- Let the boiled apples cool down a bit before adding other ingredients.
- Once the apples are cold enough add grated ginger, lime or lemon juice, jaggery or whatever sweetener you are using and green mint leaves.
- Blend everything together using an immersion blender. If you don’t happen to have immersion blender then transfer the boiled apples with other ingredients to a blender jar and blend it. Blend until smooth.
- Pass the pureed green apple panna through a fine-mesh strainer.
- Strain through the strainer, stirring and pressing to extract all the liquid into the bowl. Discard all the leftover fibers.
- Now add all the spices to strained apple puree. Black rock salt(check notes), black pepper, roasted cumin seeds powder (Check notes), bit of salt and powdered mint leaves (check notes) to the pureed apple Panna.
- Mix until thoroughly combined.
- Add more chilled water and ice to adjust the consistency of panna.
- You can also add few hand torned mint leaves and key lime slices and store the drink in refrigerator until ready to serve.
- Add few cubes of ice in a glass and fill the glass with this chilled panna and enjoy this refreshing drink.
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― Virginia Woolf, The Common Reader
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You may also want to try our popular Plum Panna recipe:
Snacks to go along with Panna drink:
Green Apple panna, a refreshing summer drink made out of greenapples, seasoned with roasted cumin powder, black salt and mint leaves. This summercooler, Panna, is synonym to summer season in India. Summer is the time whenyou most enjoy this fresh chilled drink that not only beat the heat but alsohelps in keep you hydrate and energize.
- 600 gram Green Apples 4 medium size apples
- 28 gram Ginger 2 tablespoons grated
- 2 tbsp Lime Juice juice of one lime
- 28 gram Fresh Mint Leaves one cup leaves
- 4 cup Water 2 + 2 divided
- 4 cup Ice
- 28 gram Jaggery 2 tablespoon
- 1/2 tsp Salt adjust as per your taste
- 1/2 tsp Black Pepper Powder
- 2 tsp Black Rock Salt
- 2 tsp Cumin Seeds Roasted Powder
- 1/2 tsp Dry Mint Leaves Powder
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To get rid of the wax coating, soak the green apples in hot water and vinegar solution (16:1) for 15-20 minutes. After 20 minutes give them a good rub and rinse them under tap water.
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Now Core and chop clean apples into cubes, no need to peel them. In video I have showed two ways of coring apples, you can do either way.
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Add the chopped green apples to the inner pot of Instant Pot. Add 2 cups of water to the apples.
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Put the lid on and pressure cook on high pressure for one minute. Make sure the venting knob is in the sealing position.
-
Allow the pressure to release naturally. Once the pin drops, carefully open the Instant Pot. After the apples are boiled, they will lose their vibrant, rich green color and may not look pleasing, which is absolutely fine.
-
Let the boiled apples cool down a bit before adding other ingredients to cooked apples.
-
Once the apples are cold enough add grated ginger, lime or lemon juice, jaggery or your preferred sweetener you are using and green mint leaves.
-
Blend everything together using an immersion blender. If you don’t happen to have immersion blender then transfer the boiled apples with other ingredients to a blender jar and blend until smooth.
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Once blend smooth, pass the pureed green apple panna through a fine-mesh strainer.
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Strain through the strainer, stirring and pressing to extract all the liquid into the bowl. Discard all the leftover fibers.
-
Now add all the spices to strained apple puree. Black rock salt(check notes), black pepper, roasted cumin seeds powder (Check notes), bit of salt and powdered mint leaves (check notes) to the pureed apple Panna.
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Mix until thoroughly combined.
-
Add more chilled water and ice to adjust the consistency of panna.
-
You can also add few hand torned mint leaves and key lime slices and store the drink in refrigerator until ready to serve.
-
Add few cubes of ice in a glass and fill the glass with this chilled panna and enjoy this refreshing drink.
Recipe Video
Equipment used in making this recipe:
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I had couple of really sour apples and I made this today. It was such a big hit in my home. Everyone liked it. It has quite similar taste of aam panna. Thank you Rupali for sharing this.
Thank you for your feedback! Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
I made this today and loved it. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Thank you for sharing, this recipe was a big hit with my family!!!