English
বাংলা
The story
In the villages around Jhitka, Gopinathpur and Balla in Manikganj's Harirampur upazila, a handful of families have made a special date-palm gur for around two hundred years, according to local accounts. The name is usually traced to a gachhi called Hajari who first made it, though sources differ on his full name. Local legend adds that a British queen once tasted the gur, praised it, and that a brass seal stamped with the word Hajari has been pressed into each cake ever since. The story is told proudly in Jhitka, but it is folklore rather than documented history.
What sets hajari gur apart is how it is made. The makers use only the first, freshest sap after a tree is cut, collecting it for a few days and then resting the tree before cutting again, rather than tapping it continuously. The sap is boiled the same morning on a traditional multi-pan earthen stove, moving from one pan to the next as it thickens, then beaten until it turns pale and grainy and poured into small moulds where the hajari seal is stamped on top. It takes roughly ten to twelve litres of sap to make one kilo, so output is tiny: newspapers have counted only around twenty to twenty-five families still at work, each making a few kilos a day in the coldest weeks of December and January.
The Manikganj district administration applied for Geographical Indication status in February 2024, and on 15 June 2026 the Department of Patents, Designs and Trademarks issued the certificate for Manikganj's hajari gur, making it the 64th registered GI product of Bangladesh. The tag protects the name; it does not certify individual makers or sellers.
How to spot the real Manikganj hajari gur
The test people in Jhitka give is simple: press a piece between your fingers. Genuine hajari gur is dry and fine-grained, crumbles into a soft powder, and melts almost at once on the tongue, leaving the aroma of fresh date sap. It is usually lighter in colour than ordinary patali. Be careful with colour alone, though: ordinary gur can also be whitened with chemicals such as hydrose or alum, so a pale cake that is rock-hard and will not crumble is a warning sign, not a sign of quality. A gur that tastes of plain sugar, feels oily or sticky, or is sold cheaply in large quantities is very unlikely to be hajari, given how little is made. A Hajari stamp on top is part of the tradition, but a stamp is easy to copy and proves nothing on its own.
Buying tips
Ask the seller which family or village made the gur, the date it was made, and whether they make it themselves or buy it in. Genuine makers are few and usually sell out within the season, so stock offered in large quantities, or out of season, deserves questions. Ask how it will be packed: hajari gur is brittle and absorbs moisture, so it should travel in a sealed, rigid box. Expect a high price; that alone does not prove it is genuine, but a low one is a strong hint that it is not.
On Midmart every shop sets and charges its own delivery, so hajari gur from one seller and pitha flour from another will be two deliveries. Midmart does not take your payment or deliver the parcel; you and the seller agree payment and courier between you. No listing is proof that the gur is from Jhitka or covered by the GI, so ask the questions above and order a small amount first.
Keeping it fresh
Hajari gur draws moisture from the air and turns sticky, so keep it in an airtight jar in a cool, dry cupboard or in the fridge, and use a dry spoon. Kept sealed, it stays good for some weeks; for longer storage, freeze it in small airtight portions and let them come to room temperature before opening.
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