Walnut season in Chamba

In October the walnut trees around Chamba are beaten with long poles, and the nuts are gathered from the ground by children paid by the basket.

The green husks stain hands brown for a week. The nuts are dried on roofs, then sold to traders who take them to the plains.

In Chamba kitchens the walnuts go into chutney, into the stuffing of siddu and into a sweet made with jaggery for winter evenings.

A good tree, growers say, gives a family a month's income. A tree is planted for the grandchildren.