Joynogorer Moya

Bengal is known in the culinary map of India as the sweet capital of India. Like Rosgulla which is the main face of Bengali sweets outside of Bengal and available all year round, there are certain seasonal varieties of sweets very exclusive to certain fixed locales of Bengal which have their own GI tags. One such sweet is Joynogorer Moyaa. It is a rice based sweet  made out of Kanakchur Khoi and Molasses from palm trees extracted in winter which is known in India as Gur or Notun Gur. The sweet is named after Joynogor from the place where it originates and it is located in extreme south of West Bengal near Sunderbans.

 Map of Sunderbans in West Bengal indicating Joynagar. Source - Google Image

 There is no historical records about the age and antiquity of the Joynogorer Moyaa but the oldest shop commercially selling the Moyaa is of 86 years old named Sri Krishna Mishtanna Bhandar located near Joynagar Railway Station. Another old shop in nearby Bohoru is Shyamsundar Mistanna Bhandaar. Moyaa is available through out Kolkata in winter and south Bengal woth some online presence nowadays.But gradually, authentic Moyaa is less available nowadays  due to two factors -

In West Bengal, date palm jaggery is becoming harder to come by due to the decrease in the number of date palm trees and the shift of members of the "Shiuli Community" who are traditional producers of Nolen Gur from date palm sap to other professions. Similarly, Kanakchur Rice is a local variant which grows only in winter and essentially organic.

 Normal Moya packaging from Joynagar.

 What are the exact ingredients that goes into the Moyaa -

The ingredients-

How to reach - In kolkata, take the Namkhana local train from Sealdah south section and get down at Joynagar which is 1 hour away.