Kathbadam is becoming popular as a tasty snack in Dinajpur town. Kathbadam fruit picked straight from the trees is being sold on the Boropul bridge, south of the children's park at Gor-e-Shahid Boro Maidan, and buyers from all over the town crowd there to buy it.

Buyers pay Tk 10 to 15 for each fruit. Each fruit holds 10 to 15 kathbadam nuts.

Md Anu, who sells kathbadam fruit on the pavement of the Boropul bridge, said there are countless kathbadam trees in Dinajpur town and other places, and that he and others are also planting them on various government sites. There are 10 to 15 trees around the Boropul. "The people of Dinajpur did not even know the kathbadam tree or the nut. The nuts used to ripen, fall and go to waste. For the past three years Md Milan and I have been picking and selling them."

Md Milan said buyers are taking each fruit at Tk 10 to 15, with 10 to 15 nuts inside. Because it is a tasty snack, people eat it and take some home for their families too. The fruit is green on the tree and turns wood-brown when ripe. Struck on something hard, it splits down the middle. Inside are black seeds in a red coating; peeling the seed first reveals the red layer, and peeling that brings out the white kathbadam, which tastes very good.

A child, Md Firoz, was selling kathbadam nearby. He said he had sold four sacks of the fruit for Tk 4,000 the day before. He was selling one sack that day, and his father had gone to pick more from the trees.

Moazzem Hossain Shah, an office assistant at the Dinajpur district judge's court who came to buy, said he has been buying kathbadam from Milan and Anu at the Boropul for three years. His whole family likes it, because what is sold in the market is processed, while here he can buy it direct and get the real taste.

Md Rostom Ali (55), owner of a tree beside the gate of the Pulhat staff quarters, said his tree is 70-80 years old. He did not know it was a kathbadam tree; he found out only three years ago. The tree bears at least 10,000 fruits a year, and he now earns good money selling them.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.