This Pongal gift hamper has rice varieties from 38 TN dists

CHENNAI: This harvest season gift your loved ones the richness of 38 districts in Tamil Nadu in a box through Namma Nellu’s Pride of Tamil Nadu gift hamper. The hamper contains rice varieties from 38 districts in Tamil Nadu like- aruvatham kuruvai from Ariyalur, neelan samba from Chennai, navara from Coimbatore, kallurundaikar from Dharmapuri and lots more. It is priced at Rs 999.

Speaking to DT Next Dr K Vijayalakshmi, founder and CEO of Sempulam Sustainable Solutions says, “The organisation has always worked towards helping farmers market their traditional rice varieties under our campaign Namma Nellu. We supervise the cultivation and other processes to ensure everything goes smoothly. Farmers are paid a premium price at the point of purchase itself.”

She says our state is rich in indigenous rice varieties with exceptional health benefits. These rice varieties are not only important because of tradition and culture but also because it is important to protect farming techniques.

“We have been curating gift boxes with rice for years now. We come up with various collections like- Aromatic Collection which had fragrant rice, Red Rice Collection which featured all the red rice varieties, Women’s Special which had rice varieties good for women’s health, Women and Children’s Special, Immunity Special, 30 Days Special which focused on helping people to eat one variety a day, and lots more.

“When we think about Pongal naturally rice comes to our mind and since it’s a major festival in Tamil Nadu, this time we decided to curate the box with 38 different varieties from different districts. Our research showed that rice is unique in each district. Not only in terms of appearance or texture but also in taste, consistency and benefits,” she adds.

The Pride of Tamil Nadu box or Thamizh Mannil Maanbu, has a map of Tamil Nadu with the names of the rice varieties of the districts. The hamper also has cooking instructions, health benefits and nutrition information in both English and Tamil.

Vijayalakshmi says the gift hamper can be gifted throughout the year and is not limited to only Pongal. However, for Pongal, this Rs 1,200 gift hamper is being sold on an offer for Rs 999.

The hamper is available at sempulam.com/gifting.