Winter in Natore: how date molasses is tapped before sunrise

The gachhi starts at three in the morning. Each tree is shaved, a bamboo spout set into the cut, and a clay pot hung under it. By first light he is climbing back up the first tree to collect.

The hurry is chemistry. Khejur sap begins to ferment within hours of leaving the tree, and sap collected after about nine in the morning makes gur that sours. So the whole harvest happens in the dark, and the boiling starts before breakfast.

A good gachhi works forty trees a night through a season that lasts about ten weeks. That is the entire annual supply of nolen gur, which is why it is a winter product and why it runs out.