Araku to Lure Tourists With Jackfruit Wine

Araku has always been a draw for any tourist coming in to Visakhapatnam. Scenic locales, fragrant coffee, delicious bamboo chicken and more, it has been the place to go to, even for locals in need of a short weekend break. Any new vehicle owner in the city tests out his vehicle on the ghats to Araku and it’s a must to take any relative coming in to the hill station. Now, the Girijan Cooperative Corporation (GCC) has stepped it up a notch, and decided to serve jackfruit wine for tourists coming in.

Using locally grown jackfruits, the GCC wants to prepare wine and serve it to travellers wanting to savour it with some bamboo chicken. As of now, the product is even under trial at the Tirupati unit of GCC. Results of the trials will come in 10 days. Initially, the GCC is only looking at sale of this wine in Araku, expanding to other parts of the state if it clicks there.

The GCC noticed the amount of jackfruits that are left unused on trees in agency areas and in other areas where traders have to resort to exporting after the local demand is met. The corporation decided to use the unused jackfruits and brew wine from them after they found out about a person doing the same in Coorg.

Officials from the corporation even visited Coorg to learn the process of brewing jackfruit wine. Tribals will now be involved in the entire process and the corporation reportedly states that they will ensure that these tribals earn maximum profit from all the jackfruits lying waste.

While normal wine consists of 12-15% alcohol, jackfruit wine consists of only 5% alcohol. Visakha and Rampachodavaram agencies in East Godavari and Seethammapet in Srikakulam are filled with jackfruit trees. Even after local demands are met and these fruits consumed, a huge number are still left unused on trees.

Now with the GCC coming up with the idea of selling this wine, things are bound to change. For making the wine, the bulbs are cut into tiny pieces, boiled and then ground. Sugar syrup and yeast is added to the ground bulbs before storing them in a pot for 15-18 days. The drink is then drawn from the pot and filled into bottles.