Jaggery from watermelon extracts

Mrityunjaya Mandal, a watermelon farmer of Chotobon village in Dumuria upazila, Khulna, has made history with his innovative thinking and entrepreneurship.

Mrityunjaya, presumably the first person to make jaggery from the watermelon juice in the district, has become a role model for the other farmers of the district.

“Watermelon cultivation is the only source of income for me. However, every year, after selling the good-quality, well-shaped ones, I throw out a huge load of the misshapen, overripe fruits, which made me thinking to do something worthwhile with the left-out fruits,” Mrityunjaya said.

“Acting on that thought, in our first venture, I, along with my wife, made five to six kilogrammes of jaggery from 20 to 25 kgs of watermelon juice. The jaggery tastes somewhat like Date Palm Jaggery and is sweet like honey,” he said.

Mrityunjaya has named his watermelon jaggery “Tou Gur” and told The Business Post that he, along with his wife, produced a total of 10 to 12 kg of watermelon jaggery to date.

Explaining the process, Mitali Mandal, wife of Mrityunjaya said, they first extract juices from the fruit and filter them twice. After the filtration process, they boil the juice for at least four hours or till it becomes thick and place the mixture in square-shaped containers.

As the mixture cools down and takes a cake-like form, the jaggery becomes ready for consumption, Mitali said, adding that they opted for the traditional method without using any machine.

She said: “We have presented the jaggery to Member of Parliament of Khulna-5 constituency, Narayan Chandra Chanda, and the local agricultural officer, Mosaddek Hossain as a gift.”

“We distributed it among neighbours and locals free of cost. We have sold it as well for Tk 300 per kg. The jaggery we made is well received among the locals, and they had requested us to market it commercially,” she added.

Mosaddek Hossain, upazila agricultural officer, told The Business Post that the saline soil of Khulna is appropriate for watermelon cultivation, and the district produces a massive amount every season.

He said: “Mrityunjaya’s invention can be proven ground-breaking for the region as a huge volume of the fruit gets wasted in the April-May.”

“He is the first to prepare jaggery from watermelon in the district, and it can prove to be a profitable venture for the farmers of the district as the country has a huge demand for jaggery,” he further said, adding that the watermelon jaggery is rich in nutrition and can easily replace sugar in different kind of food items.

Hafizur Rahman, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension, Khulna, told The Business Post that Mrityunjaya has not only invented a way to prevent watermelon wastage but made a contribution to the agriculture sector by inventing a new variety of jaggery.

One litre of juice can be extracted from 2.5 kg of watermelon, which sells for only Tk 50 in the market. However, if a good amount of jaggery can be made with the juice, the DAE official said it can generate much more profit.