Kiya - Kewda

Kewda Flower (Pandanus odoratissimus) of Ganjam, Odisha

In Ganjam district of Odisha, the Kewda plants are seen abundantly. The leaves of the plant look like pineapple leaves, the flowers resemble husk leaves of a maize. The plant grows upto 18-20 feet high mostly in coastal region. A Kewda plant gets its first flowers after 5-7years and its life span is about 45-50 years. Only the male plants bear flowers where as the female plants bear only fruits. It bears flower thrice in a year, i.e. summer, monsoon( yields maximum flower) and winter.

In many villages in the district of Ganjam, people live on this flower cultivation. three products namely kewda Ru (Kewra Oil), Kewda attar ( perfume) and kewda jal (the water) are extracted from the flower in specific distillation process.

Kewda flowers collected from plants

Kewda Distillation vessel

There are many small scale industries set up in the district to extract the products from the flower. 1000 flowers are processed to get only 30-40 gram of Ru oil. 1 kg of Ru oil costs around INR 4,00,000. Sounds great!!!!!!

Kedwa Ru has medicinal values. It is used to cure rheumatism.
Kewda attar is used in making perfume with sandalwood oil.
Kewda jal is edible liquid extract used in sweets and beverages to add flavor.