Banta

[1] The drink, which is highly in demand during April–May summer months, is often sold mixed with lemon juice, crushed ice, chaat masala and kala namak (black salt) as a carbonated variant of popular traditional lemonades shikanjvi or jal-jeera.

The Codd-neck bottle, named after its inventor Hiram Codd who patented it in 1872, was specially designed for lemonade and fizzy beverages.

The bottles, which soon became popular throughout the British Empire, are nowadays still in production for two countries exclusively: in India for banta and in Japan for ramune.

Prior to India's independence in 1947, the bottles were banned in several cities during the Indian independence movement as the Indian freedom fighters added chuna (calcium hydroxide) to the soda bottles for making improvised mini cannons.

The distinctive bottle has led to the drink also being called goli soda in South India.

However, post-independence local manufacturers came up, including many factories in Ahmedabad, all of which have now stopped making Codd-neck bottles.

Presently, Khandelwal Glass Works, who has been making these bottles since 1981 at Sasni in Uttar Pradesh, is the sole manufacturer of Codd-neck bottles in India after their competitor Mahalakshmi Glass Works in Hyderabad closed down a few years ago.

It sells 6 flavours – paneer soda, nimbu masala, lemon, orange, grape, and pineapple.

Mohammed Abdul Khader, who started manufacturing Spark Goli Soda in 2019 says it took him two years to get into selling business-to-business.

Example of a Codd-neck bottle