Kattha & cutch are extracted from wood of Khair tree. Acacia is the botanical name of this tree and it has different varieties like Acacia Sundra, Acacia Catechuoides & Acacia Catechu. These species of tree are mainly concentrated in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. The preferred locations are either UP or Bihar.

Manufacture of Kattha is an important forest-based traditional industry in India. The Central Forest Research Institute has developed an improved process to manufacture kattha and cutch. Manufacture of these products is simple and does not require sophisticated technology or equipments.

Heart wood of khair or acacia is cut into fine chips and around 8-9 kgs. of chips are kept in wire net cage to avoid direct contact with heated surface of extractor. These cages with about 25-27 ltrs. of water (3 times the weight of chips) are placed in extractors.

Extraction is done by boiling chips with water for about 3 hours. Extracts from each extractor are mixed after filtering with the help of muslin cloth and concentrated in an open pan on fire and then kept in shade to facilitate crystalisation of Kattha for about 2 days. After complete crystalisation, the curd like mass is passed through frame and plate-type filter press, operated manually and then it is washed with cold water which improves the quality of kattha.

It is then placed on wooden frames provided with canvas cloth to separate traces of cutch. Finally, kattha is cut into uniform tablets with the help of wire cutter or knife and dried in sheds. The mother liquor after removal of kattha is further concentrated in an open pan till it becomes viscous and then poured in wooden frames for drying. The dried material is cutch. About 100 kgs of acacia chips give 5 kgs. of kattha and 14 kgs of cutch. Yield largely depends upon the quality of chips.