Sweet shops gear up for Deepavali buyers

As a joyous mood to celebrate Deepavali with firecrackers and new clothes builds up across communities, sweet shops in Tiruchi city have started preparations for the festival that falls on November 8 this year.

Popular sweet brands have launched their branches in Tiruchi in recent years, signifying a growing market for fried savouries and sweets and baked goods among festive shoppers here. Some retailers have also announced sales promotions for a week ahead of Deepavali.

“Deepavali is traditionally a busy period for us every year. Our signature dish chandrakala is one of the most popular sweets in our menu, which we are offering with almond filling this year,” B. G. Subramani Sharma, managing director, Bombay Sweets, a Thanjavur-based brand with branches in Pattukottai and Tiruchi, told The Hindu on Tuesday.

The chandrakala and suryakala’ made in Bombay Sweets are small fried pastry parcels filled with khoya or mawa (whole dried milk) mixed with nuts and seasoned delicately with saffron and cardamom powder and then dipped in a light sugar syrup.

Special gift packs of sweets made with ghee and milk such as laddu, badusha, kaju katli, Mysore pak are also on offer here.

“Since sweets and savouries are an integral part of the festival cuisine, especially during Deepavali, we are offering affordable hampers with items such as ‘mixture’, thenkuzhal, athirasam, kaara thattai, and cookies,” said Janani Senthil of Vaibhavam Foods.

The company has also launched sweets made with khandsari sugar, an unrefined and chemical-free sweetener made from pure sugarcane juice. “The khandsari sugar is sourced from north Indian suppliers, and is considered a healthier alternative to refined sugar. We have made large orders of kaju katli and doodh peda with the ingredient for hospitals. For a different flavour, we have added gulkand [rose petal preserve] burfi this year,” Ms. Janani said.

The general inflation in prices this year has hit the food sector as well, and has curtailed some of customer expenditure on snacks, said many retailers. Prices of Deepavali sweets and savouries in Tiruchi start upwards of ₹450 per kilo, with the more premium and exotic varieties costing over ₹1,400.

A changing customer palate has made it possible to see Turkish baklava in itsIndian avatar across the city’s sweet shops, just as more people opt for baked goods such as cookies and cakes to celebrate Deepavali. The rise of corporate gifting has given a boost to creative packaging of sweets and savouries during the festival.