PANAJI
The Botanical Society of Goa’s annual event Konkan Fruit Festival-2024 was held in collaboration with the Agricos Alumni Association and in association with Our Lady of Rosary Church, Navelim recently at Rosary School ground.
The fest had competitions in fresh fruit category and fruit product category wherein participants from Goa, Konkan, Maharashtra, Mangalore and Karnataka showed up with their fruits and products. The annual event which is being held every year in Panaji attracts a large number of footfalls and this time it is being held in South Goa, at Navelim.
The three-day event will continue till Sunday, April 21 at the Rosary school ground with the sales of locally grown fresh fruits, fruit products, plants, pots, honey, spices, organic oils, natural soaps, pickles, papad, jam, jellies, ice-creams, juices, vinegars, wines, clay utensils, compost for coconut and cashew trees etc.
Sanjeevani Lad from Kalyani Farm, Sindhudurg had fresh ‘panhe’ (a raw mango drink), ‘sandgi mirchi’, muringa chutney, summer tea, face steam mixture, flex laddoos, ragi papad, amla pickle, Malvani vade flour and ‘poha’ (home-made puffed rice) “ all specialities from the Konkan. Pramila Fernandes, founder of Goan Naturals sells natural coconut oil without preservatives or chemicals for Rs 400 per litre under brand name Konkan Coco. “I use a natural process to make coconut oil which begins from purchasing nuts from the local farmers, sundry them for five days and squeeze dried coconuts in a wooden press at home. No chemicals or preservatives are added,” she said.
Raviraj manufactures ‘Havya Cucurma’ pure turmeric-coconut oil soaps and face washes at his home Mangalore. “The soaps are made from organic raw material like coconut oil, turmeric, neem, charcoal etc and cost Rs 200 per piece. Satya Prakash sells banana halwa and sun dried banana pieces without added sugar or any chemical, for Rs 100 per packet. “A kilo of bananas turns into 180 grams of sundried pieces, and the process takes 15-20 days,” said Satya Prakash.
“Manufactured at Dhamapur, our products, ‘Swayam Naturals’ have cashew bondu ‘mukhwas’, cashew-kokum butter spread, edible kokum butter, India bael cooler sharbat, red hibiscus and ash gourd jam, red hibiscus sharbat, kashayam, bael ice-cream, bamboo rice soap, natural dhoop sticks and coconut shell cups,” says Mohammad Shaikh, managing trustee, Swamantak Trust.
Mario’s brand comes from Loutolim. “We have chilli, brinjal pickle, mango chutney, stuffed mango, molho-mackerel, bombil-preserve, naturally made vinegar without preservatives. Nisarg Foods from Sindhudurg stall sells 500 litre ‘aamras’ for Rs 150, kokum sharbat, ready-to-drink solkadhi and Devgad hapus mangoes for Rs 650-750 per dozen,” said Mario and Suzette Falleiro.
