Last year, many persons were disappointed that they could not taste, or even get a whiff of, the Kokum wine prepared under the guidance of a researcher at Goa University. Most people complained.... but some decided to change the situation.

Dr. John Rodrigues of Chichinim, who was formerly doing product development for Hoechst [prounced as Hext] medicines now has four variants of Kokum wine in both sec (dry) and demi-sec (semi-dry) types. You can smell it, taste it and buy it to drink at home.

Carlos Figueiredo of Aldona also has made kokum fruit wine for home consumption.He bagged the third prize in the competition. May their tribe increase.

At the Konkan Fruit Fest 2006, there was a fruit fancy dress competition at 5.30 P.M. followed by a magic show by Reggie and rocking music by Newton & Ness.

The public public response to the event has been overwhelming. there is a constant flow of persons, and they are asking questions. There is a trnsfer of technology and knowledge in a festival atmosphere.

People can relish the fresh fruit ice-creams, juices, wines, snacks and savouries at the venue. It is cool by the river side after sunset when the music mingles with the cool breeze and the aroma of a thousand fruits. Former Miss World and Bollywood actress, Yukta Mukhey, even made a mention of the Konkan Fruit Fest at the "Bollywood Masti" featuring Shaan last night at the Panaji Gymkhana Grounds.

In the Fruit Eating competition with mangoes, papaya, watermelon or banana that one had to eat in 2 minutes there was a large number of entries. Previous bench marks of 1.3 kg mango pulp, 1.65 kg papaya and 2.2 kg watermelon pulp in 5 minutes were bettered.

Fruits were weighed before and after the set time to obtain the net weight of the pulp that is eaten. Suresh Naik has been the pace setter last year while Tejesh Talkadkar was the pace setter in 2003. He just could not win all the four
fruit categories this time, try though he did!

After eating or, rather, hogging 1.100 kg mango pulp in two minutes and as much papaya after a 30 minute break, he had o stop after eating 600g of watermelon.

Entries for the fresh fruit competition were judged by an expert panel consisting of Mr. Sanjeev Kadkade[ Head of Dept, Institute of Hotel Management, Porvorim], Ms.Ana
Dias e Camara and Mr. Olavio Fernandes, both members of BSG and officers of Goa Directorate of Agriculture. All three judges have long experience in judging fruit quality through organo-leptic tests. the test of the pudding is in the eating! One random fruit was picked up by the judges and tasted to arrive at the final conclusion among the fruits that had good appearance or visual characteristics.

The winners are:

MANGOES: Malcurada/Mankurad mango 1. Carlos Figueiredo, Santerxeth-Aldona, 2. Balaji Naik, Bicholim, 3.Dattaram L.Shirodkar, Bicholim. 4. Special. Prize. Nina Figueiredo

The exhibition at the 4th annual Konkan Fruit Festin Panaji was inaugurated by Mr. Tony Rodrigues, Mayor of Panaji at 10.30 A.M. on Friday May 05, 2006, in the presence of Sanjit Rodrigues, Dr. H.Y.Karapurkar, Mr.P.G.Kakodkar, Dr.Ajit Shirodkar and other dignitaries at a simple function. The Mayor evinced keen interest in the various exhibits. The
Corporation of the City of Panaji is a festival partner in the Konkan Fruit Fest since its inception in 2003.

The ICAR-Goa, The Regional Fruit Research Station of KKV at Vengurla, the University of Agricultural Sciences-Dharwad,
the Directorate of Agriculture and the Department of Science, Technology & Environment besides Western Ghats Kokum Foundation, Ravi Mangal Agro Pro Combine, Eco-Green, Self-Help Groups, Rishta, Arolkar Fruit Farm and fruit growers, processors and others have been associated with the event to promote new technologies, techniques and interaction to grow faster through trade.