Lucknowites hops on the ‘sweetwagon’ - Hindustan Times
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Lucknowites hops on the ‘sweetwagon’

ByDeep Saxena, S Farah Rizvi
Oct 21, 2022 06:37 PM IST

To make Diwali sweeter, the mithaiwallahs in the state capital have come up with a new line-up of delicacies this year

To make Diwali sweeter, the mithaiwallahs in the state capital have come up with a new line-up of delicacies this year. Adding to the long list of sweets and gift items for the festival of lights, the traditional and modern sweet shops are offering a varied range to stop customers from getting wooed by the bakery items that are giving stiff competition to the traditional sweets.

Customers on a sweet shopping spree (Deepak Gupta/HT)
Customers on a sweet shopping spree (Deepak Gupta/HT)

“Come what may, bakery items or anything, for puja and personal use customers go in for traditional sweets. Then comes the gifting part in which dry fruits, gift hampers and sweets with longer shelf life do very well. Customers ask for ‘naya kya hai?’ and we too like innovating so we have come up with range like mewa laddo jambo box, exquisite truffle box, tin-box traditional pack in modern avataar and more,” tells Pankaj Gupta of 217-year-old Ram Asrey Sweets.

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Buyers are more in for variety and are ready to explore whatever new and innovative is being offered by authentic sweet makers, bakers or home chefs.

Homemaker Rachna Rehbar says, “We have a large circle of family and friends so I had decided to try sweets that are surely different be it in taste, ingredients or packaging from previous years. I want to explore the range that will bring a big smile on our guests’ faces.”

As customers are always on a look out for something traditional yet new, a major innovation is happening in sweet shops.

“See there is space for everything — traditional sweets, items with low shelf life and even sugar free sweets. But, since customers’ demands more so we reciprocate similarly and team works round the years to deliver a new range,” tells Ravindra Gupta of Chhappan Bhog.

Channa barfi, dates delight, new version of Karachi halwa, kaju-kesar-rose barfi and dry fruit truffles are some new items they have introduced.

“We do have a sugar-free range but it’s said that somewhere that too is harmful so we promote sweets made with natural sweeteners like honey, fig, dates and dryfruits,” he adds.

Ved Prakash of Classic Radhey Sweets tells, “For generations (1925) we are selling sweets so we know love of traditional sweets will never go. But yes, reinvention and repackaging are important so we work hard on that. This time we introduced exotic dry fruit laddoos in kaju, badam, pista and chocolate. We have also come up with blueberry bites and date berry.”

Homebaker Monika Chandra who runs M’s Kitchen and has been into the business for seven years says 2022 is all about innovations as the buyers are all more health conscious.

“My exotic patakha chocolate collection is already a hit since past two years and to my surprise this year too it’s high on customer demand so that is for sure but with more add on. Granola mix, seed munchies, dehydrated fruits for kids, rose chocolates and spicy cookies with touch of ginger and cinnamon are highlight this year,” adds Chandra.

Tanushree Gupta founder of Danbro by Mr Brown feels it’s time for authentic Diwali sweets and bakery items to be innovated as a single product.

“Why can’t we have best of both the worlds? The authentic sweets mixed with right ingredients and baked to perfection to make it a best combination of Diwali sweets for example Nutella laddu coated with French biscuits.”

The Dessert Diaries owner Bhoomika Milind Shadra, who has been into baking customised cakes, cheesecakes and more, plans to surprise her customers this Diwali. “Our surprise hampers are full of new baking innovations — butter bites, tarts, tiramisu tubs and almond rocks,” she says.

With a variety of range those will sweet tooth are a happy lot!

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