It's raining sweets

Grand treat

Deepavali’ is as much a festival of sweets and savouries as it is of lights. With the festival round the corner, sweet temptations beckon one to shop windows and entice even those who watch what they eat, to binge a little. With a variety of sweets, ‘kaju’ and other dry fruit specialities, traditional sweetmeat sellers are geared up to meet the festive demand.

Sriram, a senior employee with ‘Kanti Sweets’, says that while the sweet shop boasts of more than 200 varieties of sweets, there are some that are highlighted during
‘Deepavali’. “There are around 12 varieties of ‘kaju’ sweets itself, which include ‘kaju anjeer roll’, ‘fry kaju roll’, ‘kaju diamond cake’, ‘kaju dil bahar’, ‘kaju dry fruit katori’ and ‘kaju dry fruit sandwich’. Even the ‘badam pista barfi’, ‘badam pista roll’, ‘badam pista pizza’ and ‘badam gaja’ are popular with customers,” he says.

He elaborates that flavours like ‘kaju apple’ and ‘kaju pineapple’ are also popular. “Though dry fruits sell most during this season, these sweets are much sought after. The sales go up by large proportions during this time and the stores are packed at any given time during the days before ‘Deepavali’.” He adds that since the ‘Kanti Sweets’ app is also available for customers to order from, delivery to one’s doorstep is a reality.

With each festive year, sweet sellers are coming up with innovative flavours to entice customers who are looking for something different. Ramesh Raja, director (marketing and corporate affairs), ‘Anand Sweets and Savouries’, says that the specialities for ‘Deepavali’ include ‘dry fruit meetaz ladoo’ and ‘chocolate aam papad’.

“These are rare flavours introduced this year, apart from the classic array of delicacies that we already have. ‘Kaju kalam’, ‘kaju stripes’, ‘pista launch’, ‘baked badam biscuits’ and a wide array of other ‘kaju’ and ‘pista’ products are the other highlights,” he adds.
There is also an amalgamation of cultures during this time. Ramesh mentions that Arabian sweet items like ‘Baklava pyramid’ and ‘Baklava tart’, which are made out
 of honey, also sell like hot cakes.
 
“Our ‘ghee motichoor laddoo’, ‘badam halwa’ and ‘kaju ghujia’ are other favourites,” he says proudly. An array of gift boxes varying from Rs 350 to Rs 10,000 are also available for the customers to choose from.

And a lot of effort is put into crafting gift boxes. There are sweet sellers who have different sweet pack series designed for the festival season. Vaishnavi Krishnan, director of ‘Sri Krishna Sweets’, says that apart from their festival series from last year, they have also introduced a ‘sweet and khara combo’ which has ‘Mysurpa and aval mixture’, and is packed in an attractive gift box.

Talking more about the sweets, she adds, “Our ‘Mysurpa’ is without the ‘k’ as the texture of our sweet is not the honeycomb structure but is a soft version which melts in the mouth.”

Sellers are oozing creativity with these gift boxes. “Apart from over-the-counter sweets, we have pre-packed boxes in different ranges, like the ‘Aura’ series (an assortment of pure ‘ghee’ sweets like ‘Mysurpa’ and ‘badhusha’), ‘Delicacy’ series (an all-assorted sweet box with ‘laddoos’, ‘katlis’ and more) and ‘Relish’ series (individual sweets like ‘kaju katli’),” details Vaishnavi.

“We have also introduced ‘Cashew crunch’, a barfi made from a combination of nuts, and ‘Sweet crunch roll’, a Lebanese sweet roll,” she adds.

However, not everyone has embraced the festive buzz. Sweet sellers like ‘KC Das’ are not dishing out anything special for the season, but still remain popular among Bengalureans.
Prabhu, production manager for ‘KC Das Pvt Ltd’, says, “We have a wide variety of sweets that vary in taste and texture, but we do not roll out special sweets for the festival. Our ‘rosogollas’, ‘khirkadam’ and other typical Bengali sweets are a hit among Bengalureans. ‘Soan papdi’ is also a popular gifting option (and for personal consumption) as it has a long shelf life.”

He vouches that the sales increase by five times during ‘Deepavali’.