Sindhudurg Cashew Feni Konkan Maharashtra

Sindhudurg district of the Konkan coast, Maharashtra produces cashew apple distilled feni — a traditional spirit made from the freshly fermented juice of the cashew apple fruit before the nut is harvested — alongside the cashew kernel processing industry that makes Sindhudurg one of India major cashew growing regions. The cashew tree was introduced to the Konkan coast by Portuguese traders in the sixteenth century and naturalised extensively in the red laterite soils of Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg, where it now grows semi-wild on hill slopes managed by traditional Kunbi and Agri farming families. Cashew apple feni production involves pressing the fresh cashew apple in a traditional stone or wooden press to extract the juice, fermenting the juice in clay pots for three days, and then distilling the fermented wash twice in a traditional clay pot alembic called Bhatti, producing a sharp, fruity spirit at 40 to 45 percent alcohol. The Goa state cashew feni holds GI status while Sindhudurg Konkan feni has a regional identity. Cashew kernel processing by women worker cooperatives in Sindhudurg provides seasonal employment.