Key Points

• That Indian Drink is a mixture of a traditional Indian yogurt-based beverage with locally sourced Western flavors.
• The company was co-founded by agriculture economist Amrit Singh and chef Ipshita Pall in 2011.
• The locally-made drink is now distributed to over 500 locations across the U.S.

It’s a healthy fusion of Indian and American culture, a smooth blend of milk and fruit filled with savory spices. Amrit Singh and Ipshita Pall’s “That Indian Drink” is inspired by a traditional Indian yogurt-based beverage, lassi, but is recreated with locally sourced ingredients inside the husband-and-wife team’s Freeville production facility.

“I think it’s really a combination of our heritage and cultures,” Pall said.

Trickle of Trips

Their journey to central New York began with a series of moves.

Originally from India, Singh is a world traveler with previous consulting experience in cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and in regions such as the Far East. Having expertise in areas that stretch beyond cuisine, Pall completed an undergraduate degree in chemistry and a master’s degree in computer science.

Fourteen years ago, the couple settled in New York City where Pall pursued a career as professional chef in Indian-Latin fine dining and went onto compete in Iron Chef America.

Singh and Pall then yearned for a break from corporate life.

“I did not do all of this before. I was just putting teams together, going on teleconferences, but this requires me to physically do something,” Singh said.

Small Sips

After Singh attended Cornell University to study agriculture economics, the couple decided to stay in Ithaca and put a new twist on yogurt in America.

“Yogurts have become very predictable and nobody was ever doing it the way we do it back home with spices,” Pall said. “So, I thought we could do  a traditional lassi with spices and combine it with fruits.”

In 2012, Singh and Pall started testing recipes for the drink at the Ithaca Farmers’ Market.

Of the two crates labeled “Don’t Like It (Don’t Quit Your Day Job)” and “Like It (Quit Your Day Job),” the empty cups in the latter sealed the fate of their creation. The company, “Milk & Honey Co,” was launched with the first product: “That Indian Drink.” Milk and honey symbolize a “land of abundance” in Indian culture.

“Lassi is not very well known to an average American, so we wanted to build a bridge: how can we communicate to someone who’s never heard about lassi before?” Singh said. “We wanted the name of the drink to be fun and light hearted.”

What’s in That?

The yogurt smoothie comes in five flavors: raspberry-cinnamon, mango-rosewater, blueberry-cardamom, apple-beet, and cranberry-orange. It’s a mixture of “summer fruits and winter spices,” Pall said.

“We wanted to pair the familiar with the unfamiliar. It’s a way in which cuisines in India have evolved where you don’t necessarily bring complementary things together,” Singh said.  “With that thought process, we wanted to bring familiar fruits with unfamiliar spices.”

A few of the ingredients include: growth hormone-free milk from upstate New York farmers; fresh blueberries from Michigan; raspberries from British Columbia; Alphonso mangoes from the Konkan region in India; and ayurvedic spices.

“It’s creating a transparent relationship. We know most of our farmers and we know they have an ethical way of producing fruits,” Pall said. “The farmers can rely on us and we can rely on them.”

Future Plans

Initially created in a small production space in Romulus, the couple grew the company by acquiring a plant in Freeville, now employing 14 people. Once sold in local markets, the drink is now distributed to over 500 locations on the east and west coast.

The company will soon launch clarified butter, “That Indian Butter,” also known as ghee, in flavors such as chocolate-saffron and smoked Hungarian paprika-quinoa.

“The most rewarding experience is creating something, creating this dairy plant and working with the people who help run it,” Singh said.