• Rinse the Almonds once with clean water and then soak in bowl for 4-5 hours or overnight.
• Peel the almonds the next morning  or after 4-5 hours of soaking.
• After this, place the peeled almonds in a small mixie jar or food processor bowl and pulse till it becomes a smooth and fine paste.
• In a sauce pan. place the 2 cups of water and 2 and a half cups of sugar. Then place this sauce pan on low medium heat and stir occasionally.
• Let the contents of the sauce pan come to a boil and then reduce the heat to low.
• Add the crushed cardamom pods and crushed black pepper and additional optional flavours next and let the syrup simmer till it thickens. This will take 7-10 minutes and you'll have to let the syrup reduce.
• Next step is to check the consistency of the syrup. Once you notice that the syrup has thickened slightly, watch it closely.
• When you see that the syrup has thickened, add the Almond paste and stir. You'll see a change of colour as the mix turns pale yellowish which is fine.
• Now let this Badam Sharbat cook on low heat to simmer for 7-10 minutes more. It will thicken more and there will be some froth on top.
• Stir the Badam Sharbat occasionally till it has thickened some more and then take off heat.
• Once the Badam Sharbat cools down pour it into clean sterilised glass bottles.

Making a Glass of Badam Sharbat Drink

• To prepare a glass of Badam Sharbat, pour 2 tablespoons of Badam Sharbat in a glass and top it off with cold water and an optional dash of cold milk. Stir well and add a few ice cubes.