West Bengal is famous for its sinful sweetmeats. While there are some that are available throughout the year, there are some that are only available in some specific seasons because of the ingredients used to make them. Joynagarer Moa is a winter delicacy that is made with a rare variety of puffed rice (kankachurkhoi) and date palm jaggery, which is only available during slightly colder months. The special sweet that looks a ladoo, gets its name from the area where it is made -- Joynagar in the South 24 Parganas district. The incredibly popular delicacy is ready to take over the world now, the first batch of Joynagarer moa was recently shipped to Bahrain. The delicious puffed rice ladoo got its much-coveted Geographical Indication or GI tag in the year 2015.
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Date palm jaggery is only available for select few months of the year
"A trial shipment of 45 kg Of Joynagarer Moa along with 105 kg of palmyra jaggery from DM Enterprise has been stored at the central perishable centre of the Kolkata airport. It will take an early morning Emirates flight on Wednesday for the destination," Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority's Kolkata region head Sandeep Saha told PTI.
The value of the consignment is around Rs 45,000. The shelf-life of the Moa is five-seven days, noted Joynagarer Moa Nirmankari Society secretary Ashok Kumar Kayal.
Kayal also said that if the consignment is successfully delivered, they are also planning to export the moas to Italy and Canada.
As per legends, the origins of the delicate sweet lie in a village called Bahru in 24 Parganas district, where one of the residents Jamini created the original moa with just two ingredients - Nolen gur and Khoi. It was around the year 1929, that famous confectioners Purnachandra Ghosh and Nityagopal Sarkar (both from Joynagar) improvised the recipe by adding a nutty crunch of cashews and cardamom, and the richness of ghee.
Have you ever tried Joynagarer Moa? Do let us know in the comments below!