Summer season is here and so are its fruits which are now the talk of the town given that there are at least three fruit festivals scheduled for the weekend of May 8, in and around the city of Panaji.
NT BUZZ brings you more about these festivals, fruit delicacies and the need to promote such festivals
BY ARTI DAS | NT BUZZ
Every season has its own beauty and splendour. In this context it would not be wrong to say that summer is the season that celebrates nature’s abundance in all its glory.
This year, during the summer vacation, get out of your homes to learn more about summer fruits. Enjoy wild berries – Syzygium cuminis or ‘Jambhalam’, Carissa carandas or ‘Kantam’, Zizyphus Rugosa or ‘Chunnam’, Physalis or ‘Chirputtam’, Garcinia indica or ‘Kokam,’ ‘Poddkovam’, Aasale, Star Gooseberry, and many more – cashew, variety of mangoes, jackfruit, kokum, love apples, soursop (known for its anti-cancer properties), rambutan, etc.
The younger generation, especially those from urban areas, have not even heard the names of some seasonal fruits of Goa. For them summer symbolises air conditioned rooms, playing games on the mobile, or surfing the internet.
In light of this scenario, there are initiatives taken by government bodies, organisations and private associations to celebrate the fruit biodiversity of the region to increase awareness about nature’s wonders.
The annual Konkan Fruit Fest (KFF) is one such attempt at celebrating Goa’s biodiversity. In its eleventh year the Fest is back in Panaji and will be held from May 8 to May 10, along the Campal Promenade, D B Road, Campal, Panaji.
“The reasons for coming back to Panaji are many. Prominent among which is the greater footfall from across the Konkan belt and elsewhere. The aim of the event is to bring about awareness of these seasonal fruits into the consciousness of the largest cross section of people and this is best done at Panaji. The stall owners love Panaji because their turnover more than doubles here. The big bonus this year is that the Directorate of Agriculture, under the leadership of Orlando Rodrigues, is hosting the Goa Mango Festival 2015 at the same venue and on the same dates”, says Miguel Braganza, KFF organising secretary.
This year the Fest is also special for another reason; the main organiser of the festival, The Botanical Society of Goa, is celebrating its silver jubilee this May.
The three-day festival will have separate sections for commercial stalls, growers, processors, processing equipment, manufacturer, SHGs and others. The mankurad mango of the Chorao Farmers Club will be on sale at the venue.
There are prizes for fresh fruit and fruit product competitions. The fruit product competition will be held on the inaugural day – May 8, at 3 p.m., at the venue. Participants should bring processed fruits products like juices, syrups, wines, vinegar, jams, soufflés, cakes, pickles, etc. These will be judged on the same day. Fresh fruit entries have to be delivered on May 7 between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m., latest by 9 a.m. on May 8, at the festival venue or at the Zonal Agricultural Office.
On May 9, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. there will be an interactive discussion between farmers and processors/sellers, who will speak about branding agricultural products, processing, FDA registration regarding food safety, licensing, etc.
On the entertainment side, in the evening there will be live performance by Panjim Open Philharmonic on May 8. There will be a Bandstand event on May 10.
The 11th annual Konkan Fruit Fest is facilitated by the Botanical Society of Goa and the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) with participation of the ICAR-Central Coastal Agriculture Research Institute, the DBSKKV-Dapoli’s RFRS Vengurla and University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK-Bengaluru and Western Ghats Kokum Foundation.
(For details about the event email on botanicalsocietyofgoa@gmail.com or call Miguel on 9822982676.)
THE AMBEACHEM FEST
Xavier Centre of Historical Research in association with Socorro Socio-Art and Cultural Association, Porvorim is organising The Ambeachem Fest at its premises on May 10 at 4.30 p.m.
Ambeachem Fest is a low cost, eco-friendly, community-based festival. The aim of this festival is to highlight the various uses of the mango fruit in the Goan culture and to delve into Goan socio-cultural roots.
Savio Abreau, director of XCHR says: “The main reason for hosting this festival is to make people aware about the history of Goa through its fruits, and mango is the main fruit of Goa. This event will cater to all the people of Goa. We will have speakers who will speak on the history of various mango varieties and the delicacies prepared from the fruit. On the panel is also a man who will speak on art of plucking mangoes.”
Abreau further mentioned that they are planning to make it an annual event. He also hopes that the younger generation will get exposed to the mango heritage of Goa.
During this event there will be a live demonstration of homemade mango delicacies while Goan dishes prepared from the mango will be available in khompteos (stalls) placed around the venue. There will also be cultural performances.
SEASONAL DELICACIES
During this time of the year the Goan kitchens are filled with seasonal flavours that celebrate the fruit biodiversity. Mango, the favourite fruit of the season, takes centre stage with some lip-smacking recipes prepared from it. Raw mangoes are used to make pickles, uddamethi while sasav is prepared from local variety of mango called ghotta. Another fruit in huge demand these days is jackfruit. Some not so known delicacies prepared from tender jackfruit (locally called chako) are like the sushel, which is flavoured with charcoal seasoning. The usual khhatkhate gets an added flavour with tender jackfruit. Deep fried chips are made from jackfruit.
Along with these dishes there are juices prepared from kokam, which are better described as summer coolers. The list will be incomplete without the mention of mango leather, which is commonly known as mango saath. It is a sundried recipe wherein mango juice is dried in the sun layer by layer. A similar recipe is prepared from jackfruit juice. The season ends with mango jam prepared from mussarad mangoes.
MANGO FESTIVAL
The Directorate of Agriculture is organising a three-day “Goa Mango Festival, 2015” from May 8 to May 10 along the Panaji Promenade, Dayanand Bandodkar Road, opposite ESG and Inox, Campal, Panaji, with the objective to identify and maintain the genetic data bank of different local varieties cultivated in Goa.
The festival will facilitate an integrated approach to increase area under mango cultivation, quality production and marketing with the ultimate objective of ensuring remunerative returns to farmers.
During the festival different varieties of mangoes cultivated in the state will be displayed. “This is the second year of the Goa Mango Festival. We are inviting farmers, individuals and institutions involved with mango cultivation. We have different categories of mangoes – local varieties, other Goan varieties (ghontam), hybrid varieties, other Indian varieties and exotic varieties. From the local angle we have the famous varieties like mancurad, mussarad (Salcete), mussarad (Bardez), ilario, colaco, malgeus, xavier, furtado, alfonso, udgo, pairi, etc. In the hybrid category there are different varieties like ratna, amrapali. There are even some Indian varieties like totapuri, kesar, neelam, etc”, says Nelson Figuredo, deputy director of Agriculture Department.
There will be demonstrations on various mango production technologies, competitions to judge mango fruits of different varieties.
Any farmer/individual, institute having mango trees in the state of Goa is eligible to participate in the competition. Participants can submit any number of entries; however, each entry should have a minimum of four mangoes. No entry fee will be charged. Prizes in the form of trophies/mementos and certificates will be awarded for the first three bestv entries, in each category. Entries can be submitted at any Zonal Agricultural Office on May 7 before 5 p.m. or can be submitted directly at the venue on May 8 before 10.30 a.m.
Mango carving competition and preparation of mango products pickles, jams, juices, leather, etc, will also form part of festival.
Farmers/individuals, institutes interested in participating in the various competitions can obtain further details from the Horticulture Section of the Directorate of Agriculture or from any Zonal Agricultural Office.