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Photograph — A pandanus (screw pine) flower, the family kewda belongs to (representative photograph). Source image unavailable; caption preserved.
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Preserved & Fermented Foods · Odisha — Ganjam
Ganjam Kewda Flower & Rooh (Attar)
A intensely fragrant flower grown along Odisha's Ganjam coast, traditionally distilled into rooh and attar used in food, paan and perfumery, and dried into kewda kora for flavouring sweets.
GI status: GI-registered (Ganjam Kewda Flower / Ganjam Kewda Rooh), 2019
Shelf life: 2+ years for distilled rooh/attar in sealed glass
Women-led sector
| Category | Preserved & Fermented Foods |
|---|---|
| Region | Odisha — Ganjam |
| GI status | GI-registered (Ganjam Kewda Flower / Ganjam Kewda Rooh), 2019 |
| Typical shelf life | 2+ years for distilled rooh/attar in sealed glass |
| Women's role in production | Picking the fragrant kewda (pandanus) flowers at dawn — timed to the hour to capture peak fragrance — is done almost entirely by women of Ganjam's kewda-growing villages, who also do much of the sorting before distillation. |
Why this fits a low-wastage SHG model: Distilled kewda essence, unlike the flower itself, keeps for years in a sealed bottle — a clear example of turning a highly perishable bloom into a shelf-stable, higher-value product.
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