Have You Heard Of Hurda Parties?
Tender stalks of hurda ready to be roasted and threshed
The sweet, nutty taste of freshly roasted tender jowar or sorghum is something I wait for throughout the year. Come winter, the season for hurda — as this tender jowar is called in Maharashtra — begins. Hurda connoisseurs make sure to find out where friends or organisers will be hosting parties in order to savour this seasonal delicacy. At hurda parties, usually hosted on farms, the roasted grain is enjoyed by the warmth of a campfire.
Jowar or sorghum is a millet which is a staple grain in many parts of Maharashtra and Gujarat. In its mature form, it is often milled into flour and used to make bhakris or flatbreads. Containing more fibre and vitamins than popular grains such as wheat or rice, millets like jowar have found renewed popularity in recent years. Although it is difficult to eat jowar in its mature form unless it is cooked, hurda has a mellow sweetness which is accentuated by the spicy accompaniments that it is served with. Hurda is best eaten fresh, with minimum fuss.
Hurda parties are arranged at sorghum farms from December to February. Farmers or organisers harvest cobs of tender jowar. The cobs are slow roasted on a campfire made of dried cow dung or wood for 5-7 minutes. The hot cobs are then covered in cloth and threshed to separate the chaff from the grain.
Once the hurda has been roasted, the grains are threshed and then served with a variety of accompaniments
This freshly roasted grain is served with jaggery or traditional chutneys made of peanuts, chilli powder, garlic, dried coconut (or khopra), and chopped onions. In addition to this central component, there are other foods that are also served at hurda parties. Some staples include bhakris made of jowar flour, vegetable curries and fiery meat curries which are popular in various parts of Maharashtra.
For instance, a hurda party may include Kolhapuri tambda rassa, a red-hot curry usually made with mutton. The curries and bhakris are generally cooked on traditional stoves fired by dried wood.
In Gujarat state, the grain is called ponkh and ponkh parties are just as popular.
“The tradition is popular on farms near Surat city,” said Anil Mulchandani, a food critic based in Gujarat. “Such parties are widely popular like they are in Maharashtra. Residents of Gujarat use ponkh for making snacks like wada, patties, curries, and roasted ponkh. In fact, snacks made of ponkh are so popular that many food joints and stalls in popular spots like the riverfront or gardens sell them in the winter.”
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Some species of sorghum are specifically cultivated to be eaten as hurda
Even though hurda parties could be mistaken as a modern day phenomenon, they actually stem from a long-standing pan-Indian tradition of celebrating harvests.
“Maharashtra [and India in general], has had a tradition of celebrating the harvest of many farm products, like millets, mango, or sugarcane,” says Dr Mohsina Mukadam, a food historian and researcher based in Mumbai. “Though it has not been documented, I think the tradition of hurda parties must be at least a century old.”
Mukadam elaborates that in earlier times, farmers would spend day and night guarding the valuable jowar grains that were about to be harvested. To entertain themselves, they may have started bonfires and roasted tender jowar to eat. Realising that this tender ponkh or hurda was tasty, they may have begun arranging get-togethers for friends and relatives to enjoy it.”
According to Mukadam, the commercialisation of hurda as a commodity began after 1990, with globalisation. She also pointed out that people organise similar get-togethers to enjoy roasted tender gram or wheat, but they are not as popular as hurda parties.
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Only some species of jowar yield sweet and chewy hurda, which is the kind that is most popular. Sorghum cultivated in arid and rain-fed areas like Marathwada is said to taste better than the varieties grown on farms with irrigation.
Farmers cultivate species such as Gulbhendi, Surti and Phule Uttara specifically to sell as hurda. Otherwise, after they have ripened, these varieties don’t fetch a good price.
Many farmers around Pune, Solapur, Nashik and Aurangabad in Maharashtra arrange commercial hurda parties.
“Hurda parties have become popular in Pune and Mumbai in the last few years,” says Shashikant Borkar, a farmer who hosts parties at his farm in Saswad, 20 km from Pune. “Earlier, these get-togethers were limited to families, friends, and neighbours in the Marathwada and Solapur regions, where jowar is cultivated.”
According to Borkar, the popularity of hurda parties has skyrocketed to the extent that holiday resorts now buy tender jowar grains or cobs from farmers and organise their own parties. Borkar Farms alone hosts 100 to 200 visitors almost every day from December until the end of February and charges Rs 750 per head.
“Over 500 such farms and resorts offer hurda parties in Pune alone,“ says Borkar. On his farm, he also arranges farm visits to introduce city dwellers to the finer nuances of the agriculture business.
In the last few years, the popularity of hurda has spurred agro-tourism in Maharashtra in a big way.
“Over 400 registered agro-tourism centres run by farmers or private firms across the state cater to hurda enthusiasts,” says Supriya Karmalkar, deputy director of the Department of Tourism for Maharashtra. “The tourism department offers training to farmers, especially from rural areas, on how to host guests, [and] what facilities should be offered. These centres get visitors mostly because of hurda from November till March. Hundreds of youth from villages get employment.”
Apart from farms, hurda is also sold in markets during the winter season. This seasonal delicacy is now also available online, and many restaurants have begun to showcase it in dishes.
In an attempt to popularise local ingredients, Hussain Shahzad, executive chef of the Mumbai-based restaurant The Bombay Canteen, has started to serve a few dishes based on hurda/ponkh. The restaurant serves a smoked pumpkin launji or a silken pumpkin hummus topped with charred ponkh.
“We have received a great response from youngsters and health-conscious customers since we started serving [the dish] in 2021,” says Shahzad. “We make sure to use lesser-known local ingredients like ponkh in non-intimidating ways to make the audience more open to exploring these dishes.”
Soam, a popular restaurant serving Gujarati and Maharashtrian food in Mumbai, serves a ponkh-focused menu every year in the winter months.
The smoked pumpkin launji served as part of the winter menu at The Bombay Canteen
Dr R Ananthan, a scientist from the National Institution of Nutrition based in Hyderabad (NIN), is happy that efforts are being made to popularise millets.
“Millets, including sorghum, used to be the staple diet until 30 years ago,” he says. “Millets were cheaper as well. After the Green Revolution, food security measures like availing grains such as rice and wheat at subsidised rates, popularised [those grains] and millets took a backseat. It takes less time and energy to cook rice and wheat than millets, and they are also tastier.”
He says subsituting millets in place of rice and wheat is bound to be difficult.
“It took not more than ten years to replace millets with rice due to reasons like food security,” he says. “But it will take a long time for millets to replace rice and wheat. That is why experiments by these restaurants are important. We will host a range of programmes to popularise millets across India in 2023, which will be celebrated as the International Year of Millets.”
He also pointed out that millets were once the cheapest cereals and thus affordable to most people. Now, they have become one of the most expensive cereals, costing Rs 50 ($.75) per kg.”
Raju Bhandarkavthekar, who hosts hurda parties at his farm in Patani village near Solapur, is more than happy that youngsters and residents of cities are choosing to try rural foods such as hurda.
But while this newfound popularity has undoubtedly been beneficial for farmers cultivating the crop, it also means that hurda has now become more expensive. Much like quinoa and amaranth, unless it is regulated, hurda runs the risk of becoming inaccessible to the communities that traditionally consumed this nutritious and delicious grain.
