KAFAL FRUIT

Kafal or Kaphal also known as Myrica esculenta is a tastiest wild fruit of Kumaon region of Utarakhand. The fruit is sweet in taste and has a many stories connected with it. One of the many stories connected says there was a lady and her daughter who used to sell kafal, they were too buzy in the unending process of reaping, winnowing, sowing and weeding of the fruit that the girl used to think when will she be able to taste the fruit. One day the lady asked her daughter to look after the fruits and not to taste them but when she returned she saw that the basket is not of the same weight now and she thought her daughter has eaten them up and beated her badly. The little girl cried and said she didn’t taste them. Later the lady understood that due to the summer heat kafal lost weight and when it will rain they will gain weight but it was too late the girl was died now. It is believed that the girl after death became a bird called Magpie and comes back every year when the fruit ripens in the jungles of Himalaya in the months of April, May and June and sings “kafal pakko meil ni chakkho” which means kafal fruit is ripened now but I didn’t taste them. kafal represents season change, kafal is the last tasty fruit of spring before the entry of harsh summer. It is found mainly in tourists places like Nainital, Pauri, Jaiharikhal and generally the villagers sitting road side sell it for Rs.100 or Rs.200 per kg.