The ground-breaking effort by an IT professional-turned agripreneur from Kannur to commercializecashew sprouts to overcome the hardship posed by the pandemic – which reduced hundreds of kilogramsof unsold cashew getting sprouted during the monsoon-has been selected by the union ministry of Food Processing Industry (MoFPI) and it will be featured in the 75 success stories of micro food processing enterprises across the country.
In the ministry’s online campaign held to mark “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav campaign”, the story is of an IT professional-turned agripreneur who turned a major setback into an opportunity of a lifetime, ” addressed by MoFPI while portraying the enterprise Eatery Malabarikas, founded by Kannur native Brijith.
The firm, founded in November 2020, has diversified its value-added cashew offerings to include cashew sprout pickles, cashew sprout soup, cashew sprout biscuits, and many other products under ‘Kajusprouty’brand.
The firm attained a financial turnover of Rs. 14 lakh for FY 2020-21. The reaction to the firms’ products has been good, particularly to sprouted cashew pickles and soup. They are also exporting sprouted cashews to the UAE.
“We are happy to be selected as a success storyamong micro food processing enterprises by MOFPI,” Krishna said. He had lost his job following the pandemic and was left with three quintals of unsold cashew grown in his homestead, which were sprouting during the monsoon. – started selling the sprouted cashew (germinated cashew nut cotyledons).
Though people have traditionally used the sprouts of mazhayandi (fallen cashew nuts which get sprouted in rainy season) in many places for curries, this is the first attempt in the state to commercialise cashew sprouts. Krishna said that sprouted cashew was unique in having 13 essential amino acids, which is rare in vegan food.
Also, he was able to overcome the twin challenges of increasing the germination of cashew nuts from 90 days to up to 360 days, thereby ensuring year-round availability of produce and also increasing the shelf life of products. The enterprise was earlier selected by the agribusiness incubation center, and the prototype idea had received incubation support from the Promotion of Agriculture through Commercialization and Entrepreneurship.