GI & Origin
Certifications.
Four of our nine products carry India’s Geographical Indication tag. It is the highest legal protection an origin can hold.
What is a GI tag?
A Geographical Indication (GI) tag is a legal certificate issued by the Government of India under the Geographical Indications of Goods Act, 1999. It identifies a product as originating from a specific place, where given qualities, reputation or characteristics are essentially attributable to that geographical origin. Champagne can only come from Champagne. Darjeeling tea can only come from Darjeeling.
A GI tag is not a quality marker. It is an origin marker. It is the closest thing produce has to a patent. The Government of India audits and protects it. We carry it.
Our GI-tagged four.
- GI Tagged
Kishtwar Mongra Saffron
Kishtwar · Chenab Valley
Hand-plucked at dawn, in the freezing October and November months of Kishtwar.
View product → - GI Tagged
Sulai Honey
Ramban forests · Chenab Valley
Wild Sulai honey, gathered from forest hives in Ramban.
View product → - GI Tagged
Bhaderwah Rajma
Bhaderwah, Doda · sourced across the valley
The Bhaderwah Rajma is an heirloom kidney bean whose GI tag protects the variety itself.
View product → - GI Tagged
Gucchi Mushroom
Doda & Kishtwar · Chenab Valley
Wild Gucchi, foraged from across the Chenab Valley, especially in Kishtwar and Doda, where families have walked these forests for generations.
View product →
Two rajmas, one tag.
The Bhaderwah Rajma GI covers any rajma that is grown inside Bhaderwah irrespective of its colour and texture. However, Rajma found in Warwan Region of Kishtwar falls outside it.
And yet ask anyone in the valley and they will say Warwan’s Rajma is the finer bean. Higher altitude. Darker. Denser. More aromatic. It is the rajma families keep for themselves.
We price it above Bhaderwah for the same reason as they do.
Beyond GI.
Four others sit outside the GI system. Kala Zeera, wild-foraged from the alpine meadows. Chenab Walnuts and Hazelnuts, gathered across the valley, not from any single district. Chenab Desi Aaloo,the valley’s heritage potato, smaller and thinner-skinned than its commercial cousins.
A GI tag is a stamp. The valley does not need a stamp to be the valley. We trace each batch to a village. We name the family that grew or foraged it. That is our standard, with or without the seal.