This Diwali if you are indulging your sweet tooth, you are, in all likelihood, partaking the silent ingredient that is the mainstay of most sweet treats. You could be home or travelling?as I am?or working, trying to invoke some of the festive spirit denied to you in your daily excursions. Whatever be the case, it is the humble khoya that works hard to create that moment of festive cheer in your life. Usually ignored, I thought of khoya immediately and how easily it is forgotten when I had to write on Diwali food celebrations. It is neither tasty on its own, nor does it make an attractive, mouth-watering dish and yet, it perseveres in creating nuanced flavour with little credit coming its way. This festive column is dedicated to the self-effacing khoya.
So what is khoya? In simple terms, it is reduced milk. Sounds easy enough, but it takes skill to reduce milk and to ensure that it doesn?t split during the process. After all, every halwai looks for high-quality khoya. It could be a national chain or the neighbourhood shop, the demand for superior-quality khoya remains unchanged. Khoya may be made of cow milk or the favoured water-buffalo milk. Its predominance may be gleaned from the fact that 6 lakh tonnes of khoya are produced annually in India.
To make khoya, milk is cooked in a thick-bottomed pan and brought to a slow boil on medium flame. Once it has boiled, the milk is simmered till it gets reduced and becomes semi-solid.
However, the unprecedented demand for khoya during the festive season leads to its unfortunate adulteration. Last year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) introduced an ?instant? kit that determined the impurity in khoya and other milk products. Various additives, mainly harmful starch, urea-mixed milk, artificial sweeteners, etc, are used to enhance the shelf life and taste of khoya, which, when consumed, exercise harmful effects like dehydration, diarrohea and kidney inflammation. Taking cognisance of the fact that this is most likely to happen during Diwali, the FDA introduced this tool during the festive season to educate the masses. So widespread is this adulteration of khoya that people are advised to stay away from sweets made of khoya and instead choose options based on chenna and besan.
However, so pervasive is the use of khoya, especially during the festive season, that specific mandis thrive where the milk product is sold in bulk and auctioned. Due to its perishable nature, the selling is frenetic. The quality, however, is often suspect. Regulation and inspection have been real challenges. But the business of dealing in khoya continues unabated with regular news reports of spurious khoya, with headlines that boast terms like ?seized??much in the way drug officials announce a narcotics seizure. If it weren?t so endemic and damaging to one?s health, this would be amusing.
As mentioned earlier, there are now ?do it yourself (DIY)? methods to check if khoya is adulterated. One can be a little scientific by boiling khoya in water and cooling it before testing it with a drop of iodine. If the khoya takes on a bluish tinge, it is adulterated with starch. Alternatively, one can take a pinch of khoya and mash it together with your fingers. If it is sweeter to the taste, it possibly contains some artificial sweeteners.
All this may ruin the experience of enjoying the goodness of sweets during the holiday season. However, what it has done is that it has made people prepare khoya-based sweetmeats at home, including the favoured gulab jamun.
In urban centres, the halwai has for long grumbled and complained about the dominance of chocolates as an increasingly acceptable replacement for mithai. Once I had a conversation with a halwai, who went so far as to suggest that there must be some regulation regarding the sale of chocolates as a substitute for mithai as it was costing them dearly. And there was no way that the halwai, or even a chain, could compete with the marketing drive of chocolate companies and their pretty reusable festive boxes. He made a case for the small man, that is, the halwai and for Indian tradition. From the outside, it may seem like a ludicrous argument and discussion, but so intense is the business of sweets during Diwali that it is not out of place?once again establishing that khoya, the invisible ingredient, remains serious business.
The writer is a columnist with FE