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Essence adds flavour to Hyderabadi dishes
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Saturday, 16 July, 2005, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Shalini Nair, Hyderabad
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Growth of food market is corresponding to the food joints in the city. Estimates put the sale to more than 150 litres of essence in the market. The popular places are Secunderabad and Begum Bazar. "On an average day we have a sale of about 20 litres of essence," says Narayandas, partner in HR Chawla Essence Mart.
The essence is used in sweets and confectioneries. "To make it more tasty and appealing, we use essence," says Arvind Pillai, partner in S&H Catering Service.
"About five years ago, the market for essence was not as popular as of now. Essences were used for only a few products but now since the food marts are growing so is the demand," says Narayandas.
There are about five wholesale dealers in Secunderabad. "We buy essences from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. There are practically very few companies which manufacture essence in the state, and Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu are the hub for essence manufacturing," says Narayandas. Though there are not many manufacturing units in Andhra Pradesh, the companies are located in Guntur and Vijayawada.
Rose essence or gulab ruh, used in flavouring gulab jamun (a Bengali sweet), and rose sherbet, is a mild, delicate fragrance of desi (Indian) roses. Also sprinkled on guests from silver'rose-water sprayers at weddings. Kewra essence, made from kewra flowers, is used for flavouring sweets in sugar syrup, like petha (candied white pumpkin), ras malai (cream cheese cooked in double cream). Itr kewra, a stronger concentrate than ruh kewra, is used in dry sweets like burfi (milk toffee) and gajar halwa (grated carrot pudding). Kewra is also used to perfume meat pulaos.
The other essences are pineapple, apple, orange, etc. Many of the wholesale dealers feel that the growth is by at least 40 per cent as compared to five years before. The prices start from Rs 100 up to Rs 200 for 500 ml.
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