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Pok / Northern Areas Columnist

J&K to brew tea from mulberry leaves

Mulberry tea, which is being relished in some parts of the world, is set to reach our teapots soon. Scientists at Jammu and Kashmir’s Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture Science and Technology (SKUAST) have extracted various tea varieties from mulberry leaves and say they could be marketed in Kashmir and outside within next two years.

“We began trials for mulberry tea in 2007 at the university; the results were very encouraging,” said Dr Rafiqa Kamili, Head of Department, sericulture division, SKUAST.

“Mulberry is grown for silk production in Kashmir, its surplus leaves can now be used to extract tea. This can be marketed once our department is ready with its findings next year,” she said. “We have to conduct trials on a few more varieties over the next year.”

Kamili said that during the trials it was found that mulberry tea could be best developed from indigenous varieties. Around 70 varieties of mulberry are grown in Kashmir, she added, A senior researcher associated with the mulberry tea trials said the tea was also found to have medicinal values. “It tastes much like Kashmir’s famous sweet tea kehwa. It also has medicinal values and could be useful for patients suffering from Type II Diabetes and blood pressure,” the researcher added. Trials in this respect are also underway.

At present, mulberry is grown in vast swathes of fields in north and south Kashmir. Mulberry nurseries, however, are yet to come up.

“We are trying to motivate farmers to develop mulberry nurseries. I am hopeful that if the health drink is successful, the nurseries will come up in large numbers across Kashmir,” she said. Jammu and Kashmir is the country's fourth largest silk producing state and the mulberry trees are also grown in forest areas here.

“I have so far been producing mulberry for silk. Now I am planning to extract tea from its leaves as SKUAST had offered to teach me its technology,” said Mohammad Yasin, a farmer who owns a big mulberry nursery in Kashmir.