‘BALAGHAT CHINNOR’ OF MADHYA PRADESH GETS A GI TAG

Madhya Pradesh has bagged a total of 12 Geographical Indication (GI) Tags, the latest being ‘Balaghat Chinnor’. Balaghat Chinnor is an agricultural product, whose application for a GI Tag was filed by Balaghat Chinnor Utpadak Sahkari Samiti Maryadit Balaghat on 3^rd October 2019 and the product was certified on 14^th September 2021 [click here to read all documents]. The application details of ‘Balaghat Chinnor’ are mentioned below-

Application Details

“Chinnor” is an endemic, ceremonial and good quality traditional rice of the Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh. Almost every farmer cultivates this variety for their home consumption because of its unique taste, aroma and softness. Chinnor has been used as an indispensable ingredient in feasts for marriage celebrations and religious ceremonies. The Bhatt in the “Bhata-Bhatt” cuisine, which is a very popular dish in the Balaghat region, is the Chinnor rice. Serving the Chinnor Bhatt during the culmination of an engagement ceremony is considered very prestigious among the Balaghat people. The cooked rice is sweet in taste with strong aroma and little stickiness that does not lose its softness and retains water even after 8-10 hours of cooking. Due to its pleasant aroma, sweetness and the ability to make milk thick because of its stickiness, it is widely used for making “kheer” in homes and in temples of Balaghat. The kheer prepared from the Chinnor rice is a very popular delicacy among the people of the Balaghat district. The priests of the Balaghat temples have been offering the God ‘Chinnor Kheer’ as Prasad Bhog.

According to the farmers, the name ‘Chinnor’ has been derived from “Chiknaiyukt Nokdaar Sugangdhit Chavur”. The shape of the apex of the Chinnor grain is similar to the tip of a sword. The cooked rice is soft, white in colour, slightly sticky, sweet and easily digestible with strong pop-corn like aroma. Although the uncooked rice is aromatic; its aroma significantly increases after cooking and there is no need of adding any flavoring to it. The Chinnor rice kneed is very smooth with warm water as the dough is used for making ‘Poori’, ‘Anarsa’ both sweet and sour, ‘roti’, and cooked chawal known as bhatt. Its cooking time is less because it has an alkaline spreading value score of 4 and the aroma of both cooked and uncooked rice is strongly scented.

Lastly, the applicants seek to secure the identity and uniqueness of this ancient aromatic rice variety since it is becoming extinct and there is every livelihood that modern day cultivation and other vested interests could expropriate this rice variety with its unique value genetically.

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