Going nuts over Chintamani groundnuts

Crunchy munchies

Adding to the list of already famous Davangere Benne Dose, Dharwad Peda, Belgaum Kunda, Gokak Kardant, is Chintamani Karada Kadalebeega (fried groundnuts).

Though considered a junk food, it is eaten widely for its hot and spicy flavour. So popular are the Chintamani nuts and its tangy flavour, that they are sold within hours in Kempe Gowda Bus Stand. The nuts are widely exported to US and Australia apart from other countries.

Hurigalu Sriramayyana Angadi at Azad Chowk in Chintamani, Chikkaballapur district is the hub of the nuts production. Dozens of vehicles from the city and other places are often lined up in front of the shop. A lot of people from Bangalore, Kolar, Chikkaballapur and cities arrive in Chintamani just to buy the nuts. People who arrive in the city from neighbouring villages and towns for some work, make it a point buy the nuts before leaving for their places. NRIs visiting the region or people leaving for foreign make it a point to carry the nuts for themselves and their friends and relatives.

Interestingly, people who want to get jobs done in government offices have been found to gift the nuts to the officers.

The secret for the popularity of the nuts, according to the owner Ashwathnarayan is ‘clean and quality groundnuts.’

“My grandmother starting selling groundnuts after my grandfather Ayodhya Ramaiah was reduced to penury,” said Ashwathnarayan who added that his father Sriramayya who was conscious of quality developed the business. “Since then the business is thriving,” he added.

Good quality groundnuts are purchased and later quality nuts are handpicked and graded.

They are then soaked, dried and fried with spice, said Ashwathnarayan who added that even chillies were handpicked and grinded.

“All the works are supervised by us and there is a no compromise in quality at any point of time. As many as eight to 10 are employed in the work,” he added.

The groundnuts are not sold in bulk to avoid the misuse of brand by other traders, said Ashwathnarayan who added that only 100 to 150 kg of nuts were prepared very day and sold in their shop in small quantities.

“More than quantity, emphasis is given to quality. One has to taste Chintamani nuts to know its real flavour,” he added.

Today, there are 50-60 small scale industries in the city which produce nuts.