Like Champagne, nolen gur is all about terroir

Two winters ago, Senjuti Mahato decided to carry out an experiment. The 41-year-old advertising professional is the co-founder of the 2020 artisanal food brand Earth Story Farms (ESF) in Kolkata, that specialises in nolen gur — Bengal’s beloved date palm jaggery. Mahato wanted to understand the soil science and weather patterns that profoundly influence the flavour of the region’s unique jaggery in order to produce it in a small batch for the season.

From late November to early February, nolen gur finds a spot on the shelves of every sweet shop in Bengal. Home cooks turn it into treats like pithe and payesh. But following the pandemic, and thanks to social media, it has found a newfound fascination outside the region. A slew of artisanal brands such as Kwidi, Amar Khamar and ESF have further amplified its cultural significance by honouring the provenance and craft of the shiulis, or traditional toddy tappers, who extract the sap from date palm trees to make the jaggery.

“We want nolen gur to be held with the same reverence as Manuka honey, or a premier Cru champagne,” says Mahato, who visited the family chateau of Le Clos Corbier in Champagne, France, last year, and interacted with generations of Champagne makers to learn about the geology of the region. “I realised it works on the same template as Champagne.”

Earlier in December 2023, she and her partner Abhishek Choudhury had begun their research along with a team of 10 tappers on their farm in Segunsara, about 200km from Kolkata. “We had classified the soil types, clear and sunny days, and resting of the trees as they were major differentiating factors in the quality of the sap,” she says. They managed to demarcate the areas that had laal maati (red soil), bele maati (sandy soil) and moram maati (gravel soil).

The following winter, along with chef Auroni Mookerjee, they tasted the saps of about 50 trees of different ages and from different soils. The best sap was from trees that were more than 40 years old, were rested for a week to 10 days, and grew on gravelly soil. Resting the tree is critical as continuous tapping can affect the quality of the sap. About 80 trees growing on 3 sq. km were then shortlisted. “We cooked the sap for 4.5 hours over sonajhuri (a species of Acacia) wood, and kept tasting the reduction at multiple stages, and finally stopped at 85 degrees Celsius for the aroma and dark colour.” The exercise resulted in a limited edition of 300 bottles, which Mahato has named “Nolen Noir”, and can be ordered on their website. What differentiates it from any other batch of the jaggery is, of course, the flavour—coconut-y, caramel with notes of dried nuts and smoke. “It’s quite unlike the common nolen gur, where sweet is the dominant note, and is way more darker.”

The findings have helped them understand production metrics. Mahato explains the gravelly soil holds the right amount of moisture, and the roots enter the mineral-rich strata, which shapes the flavour of the sap. “This is the same principle behind great wine grapes: less water, more character.”

Over the last few years, the production of nolen gur has seen several challenges. Unseasonal rain, delayed and short winters are impacting the sap extraction and yield, while high moisture levels are weakening the trees. Sailen Tudu, who along with Prachi Saraogi launched Kwidi in 2020, and works with the Santhal families in Bankura district, says an average temperature of 7 degrees Celsius over the last few weeks, and no cloud cover, have been ideal for sap collection this year.

At a time when adulteration and over-tapping to meet the increased demand for nolen gur is rampant, many are choosing restraint to preserve the unique winter delicacy.