“As soon as day breaks, we gather around its trees and handpick the best ones,” says Sanmati. In peak season, one family can collect at least 30 kg. “Chironji has a guthli (seed), which has dana chironji (kernel) inside,” she explains. The kernel has a mild sweet yet acrid flavour. Across India, people use this as a nut to add to sweetmeats.
Tribal communities cook the skin of the fruit as a vegetable, but rarely eat the kernel. They take it to weekly haats and sell them to traders.
In the markets of Golawand village in Kondagaon, resident Shyambati Kashyap sells the guthli for ₹25-30 per kg to small trader Rama Shankar Sethia. In turn, Sethia sells the produce for ₹40-50 in Kondagaon city. Prices soar as it reaches big markets. Rajendra Sethia, another local trader, says it fetched ₹80-100 per kg in 2018. Dana chironji was priced at ₹450 per kg (1 kg of dana chironji requires 3.5 kg guthli).
This story is from the November 16, 2019 edition of Down To Earth.
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This story is from the November 16, 2019 edition of Down To Earth.
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