Kafal

Kafal is one of many extremely delicious wild fruits found in Uttarakhand. The fruit looks somewhat like deep-red colored raspberries. They barely have any pulp have a big round seed in the center. 

This seasonal fruit ripens during the months of May and June and is preferred by most of the people like kafal for its sweetness and also its tangy flavor. The fruit having a limited harvesting period and available for a short period of time only.  When kafal is in season, local villagers pick and gather  the berries carefully from the wild growing areas and transport to town in baskets (daalo). People  love  to eat the fruit  with sprinkling of salt or rock salt and chili powder and it is a popular treat in the beginning of the summer months.

There are ample number of stories related to kafal . One such story is about a woman who plucked a basketful of kafal fruits from the nearby forest and brought them home. The scorching summer heat had parched her throat. She asked her beautiful daughter for water. But there was no water at home. So the woman went to the spring nearby to quench her thirst and asked her daughter to watch over the basket, giving strict instructions not to eat the fruits. When she returned, the fruits looked fewer. Not realizing that the fruits had shrunk because of loss of water, the woman slapped her daughter hard. The girl died on the spot and turned into a cuckoo. Ever since, every year in May and early June, the cuckoo sings, “kafal pako min nee chakho (kafal has ripened, but I have not tasted it yet)”.

The popularity of the wild fruit is also reflected in a song famous in Uttarakhand: “Bedu pako baarah maasa, narayni kafal pako chait (bedu ripens every month, but kafal only in April-May)”.