Jaynagarer Moa


Jaynagarer Moa is a seasonal Bengali sweetmeat delicacy prepared from date palm jaggery and Kanakchur khoi. This variety of Moa originated in Jaynagar city of South 24 Parganas district in the Indian State of West Bengal. It is now a popular sweet, being produced in Kolkata and elsewhere, sometimes with cheaper ingredients and chemical flavours. Jaynagarer Moa was given a Geographical Indication tag in 2015 which will enable the product to be protected from unauthorized uses and piracy.

History

Jaynagarer Moa is made with Nolen Gur, Kanakchur khoi, Gawa ghee, elach, and posto. Both Nolen Gur and Kanakchur rice are winter products and hence Jaynagarer Moa is available during this period only. The ordinary or common Moa is a small crispy ball made of puffed rice and jaggery. It is produced in homes all over Bengal and is also generally available in grocery shops in small plastic packets, throughout the year.
There are over 250 sweetmeat shops around Jaynagar city, which produce Jaynagarer Moa with the original ingredients. The Jaynagarer Moa manufacturers in Jaynagar city had been attempting to get Geographical Indication status for Jaynagarer Moa.

Challenges

The popularity of the dish has led in recent years to sweetmeat makers all over West Bengal, particularly Kolkata, producing large quantities of Jaynagarer Moa using cheaper ingredients flavoured with chemical aromatics and marketing them as Jaynagarer Moa.
Date palm jaggery is becoming harder to come by due to the decrease in the number of date palms in West Bengal and the shift of members of the Shiuli community, traditional producers of "Nolen Gur" from date palm juice, to other professions. Similarly, Kanakchur rice is a local variant which grows only in winter and through traditional fertiliser-free techniques only.