Know The Fruit Capitals Of India

Tuesday, May 31, 2011, 16:26

Fruits are one of the healthy food items. Mangoes, oranges, apples, guavas and pineapples are most commonly grown fruits in India apart from chikus, cashew nuts and many more. Farmers started planting fruits after people began to eat wild fruits thousands of years ago. The importance of fruits on health was realized and soon fruits were grown according to the weather and climate.

Fruits grown in other parts of the world were brought and planted in the home soil keeping season preferences and climate in mind. Lets look at the fruit capitals of India:

Nagpur - Oranges: Also known as the orange city, Nagpur is till now the largest cultivator of this fruit as compared to other cities. 20,965 hectares of land are used to grow oranges whilst Vidharva region alone has 80,000 hectares under orange production. Oranges are grown on two seasons namely, Ambiya and Mrig. Oranges of mrig season are the sweetest.

Mahabaleshwar – Strawberries: The city has been acclaimed as the Strawberry, fruit capital of India. The main season for this fruit is May-June. Visitors to this city are greeted with strawberries and the farms are highly visited by tourists who pluck the tender fruit from the bushes as an activity.

Ratnagiri – Alphonso Mangoes: This city in Maharashtra is famous for Hapus mangoes ( the most expensive variety of mango). One dozen of hapus aam can cost Rs. 1000. the fertile alluvial soil of the city is the reason behind the succulent and sweet mangoes. The markets are filled with alphoso mangoes and its smell is in the air during the season.

Nasik – Grapes: Nasik is commonly called as the grape orchard fruit capital of the country. The cool climate of the place makes it ideal to grow grapes and the cultivation was started in the early 14th century. Nasik supplies grapes abroad to make wine.

Jalgaon – Bananas: The district in Maharashtra has earned the name of banana, fruit capital of India as it contributes to more than 16% of the country's total production. The sweet Basrai variety of banana is very popular in the local markets of the district.

Allahabad – Guavas: The city of triveni sangam has a huge demand of delicious guavas in the market. Out of the 7 varieties of guavas, Allahabadi Safeda and Surkha are famous for its taste, shape, size and color.

Siliguri – Pineapples: Located on the Himalayan foothills, the district is known as the traditional pineapple growing zone of the country. Pineapples of Bidhannagar are popular all over India for its juicy pineapples. It even exports in neighbouring countries, Nepal and Bhutan.

Kotgarh – Apples: The apple revolution of this land of apples in Shimla started with an American missionary which planted the 1st seedlings. The red, juicy apples of Kotgarh are famous in the world and is a tourist place too who come to see the unripe fruit dangling on the tree branches.

So, the country is filled with these fruit capitals apart from chiku at Dahanu-Bordi and peach in Punjab, apricot in UP to name a few.