Navsari Valsad Chikoo Sapota Alphonso Parsi Heritage Gujarat

Navsari and Valsad districts in South Gujarat are India's premier chikoo (sapota, Manilkara zapota) growing area, where the coastal alluvium of the Tapti and Purna rivers supports 30,000+ hectares of chikoo orchards producing the Kalipatti and Cricket Ball varieties that are the most widely eaten fresh fruits in Western India. Navsari district is the ancestral home of the Parsi (Zoroastrian) community in India — the Sanjan and Navsari Agiaries (fire temples) mark the landing point of Parsi refugees from Persia (636 CE) who settled here and became Gujarat's prosperous merchant-industrialist minority. Valsad's Alphonso mango orchards on the Sahyadri-coastal transition produce one of Gujarat's premium mango clusters alongside the dominant Ratnagiri Alphonso.