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Monday, August 27, 2018

Exotic products such as Kiwi, hazelnuts, asparagus make their way into India plates

NEW DELHI: When Gurgaon resident Avanti Agarwal (name changed) got married this year, dishes made of white asparagus that she had arranged to be served turned out to be a huge hit.

Kiwi is mostly grown in the mid hills of Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, J & K, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh,Karnataka,Uttarakhand  and Kerala.  Having been very newly introduced in the country estimates of area and production have not yet become available. 

Availability of Kiwi fruit planting material athttp://jkmpic.blogspot.com/2016/12/kiwi-fruit-cultivation-in-india.html

"We had a separate stall serving white asparagus because it is healthier and more nutritious than the green one. Everyone loved the salads and soups made from it," said Avanti who is a vice president with a multinational bank and a health freak. She is also a regular at gourmet stores in the National Capital. Avanti is not an exception and this is not something that's reserved for special occasions. The grocery lists of many households these days have exotic products such as hazelnuts, asparagus, basil and kiwi fruit— products that were barely visible in the country a few years ago and now increasingly appealing to the Indian palette.

Consider this: India imported $270,000 worth of shelled hazelnuts in the first four months of this financial year compared with $150,000 in the whole of 2014-15. Similarly, asparagus imports have already crossed $160,000 compared with $400,000 last year. Imports of herbs such as rosemary and basil, the foreign cousin of the desi tulsi plant, have more than doubled to $3.5 million in this period from the whole of 2014-15.

Purchases of exotic fruit, vegetables, oils and other ingredients are increasing, thanks to higher incomes, the opening up of gourmet food stores and the rising number of Indians travelling abroad and bringing new tastes back home. Add to this, cookery shows -- both Indian and foreign – that have exposed the upper middle-class to a range of ingredients and dishes so much that the level of experimentation has gone up dramatically.

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//economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/49330788.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst