I've been to this place and drank palm toddy

[Jokester]

Kallu Kadai Near Chennai | Sunday Outing For Healthy Drink Toddy | Pannamgadu, Andra - YouTube

The video narration is in Tamil (my native tongue).
The place is 2 miles past the state line from my state (Tamilnadu into Andra Pradesh where they speak Telugu lots of them all over the US) where toddy is legal to tap/drink. But the visuals are enough to explain what's going on to people that know, language/narration is secondary - but basically he's saying this is a great place to chill and sit and relax without people shoving you out of there cos you're taking up their scarce table space. And its au natural LOL.
In my state you have to have the pots lined with lime to stop fermentation and that makes for a delicious sweet drink as well. Had plenty of that too. Sweetish coconut water is what its closest US available food is.
I have pics of the drink, no video, but that link is better than anything I can film. I'll post the pics next week, when I'll be back in the US.

 

[Jokester]

Here is the pics.

 

[Jokester]

They collect this in earthen pots lined with slaked lime which is the unfermented "sweet" version. If the pots are not lined then it ferments with wild yeast and bacteria right as it gets out of the tree. Its hit or miss obviously and they blend a bunch of trees to get a decent close enough "kallu". I could buy the sweet version, and ferment that with yeast only.
I have a couple questions though.

1. How does slaked lime stop fermentation, basically if we put in yeast it will start to ferment ?
2. Also how do we not taste the slaked lime in the drink.

BTW the 3rd non village method is to collect it using long hoses etc etc into a pot that's sitting on ice or in a refrigerator. I have drank it too, and frankly there's no difference in taste between the version with slaked lime vs the cold one.

 

[RM-MN]

They collect this in earthen pots lined with slaked lime which is the unfermented "sweet" version. If the pots are not lined then it ferments with wild yeast and bacteria right as it gets out of the tree. Its hit or miss obviously and they blend a bunch of trees to get a decent close enough "kallu". I could buy the sweet version, and ferment that with yeast only.
I have a couple questions though.

1. How does slaked lime stop fermentation, basically if we put in yeast it will start to ferment ?
2. Also how do we not taste the slaked lime in the drink.

BTW the 3rd non village method is to collect it using long hoses etc etc into a pot that's sitting on ice or in a refrigerator. I have drank it too, and frankly there's no difference in taste between the version with slaked lime vs the cold one.

I suspect that slaked lime changes the pH to enough basic that the yeast and bacteria can't reproduce enough to start fermentation. You might taste it but since it is a normal part of the sweet juice that you don't notice it.

 

[Jokester]

Oh, would I not be able to put yeast in it to get it to ferment then ?