It might be the year of the millet, but many Indian brands and individuals have been religious consumers of the super grain years before it became ‘cool’. This festive season, we look at four brands crafting traditional sweets and savouries using ragi, foxtail millet, and other variants.
GudFudBox, Chennai
The brand that started in 2017 with millet-based savouries, soon moved on to sweets and now has a catalogue boasting traditional favourites such as karupatti wheat halwa, thinai pandhari ladoo, kambu kara sev, and ragi olai pakoda. “The idea behind the brand was to change the mindset that healthy isn’t tasty,” says founder Vinod Radhakrishnan, who also runs an industrial catering service at Egumadurai, Tamil Nadu, where the GudFudBox kitchen is also located.
Kuthiraivali olai ribbon pakoda at GudFudBox
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The brand launched with peanut jaggery and sesame peanut jaggery ladoos that were well-received, says Vinod, adding how all sweets are made sans white sugar. “We use only jaggery, palm jaggery, or brown sugar.”
For Deepavali, their new launches with millets include a kambu and coffee Mysore pak. “We are also launching a badam and saffron Mysore pak, cashew nut ghee burfi, among others in the non-millet section.” Three gift boxes — classic (four sweets), superior, and premium (six sweets that differ in each box) — are also being launched this season.
Upwards of ₹149 on gudfudbox.com
Kambu coffee Mysore pak at Rasa Health Foods
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Rasa Health Foods, Chennai
At Chennai-based Rasa Health Foods, director Jayashree Krishnamurthy is working on her new launches for the festive season: kambu coffee Mysore pak, millet jaggery soan papdi, and ragi flax cinnamon crackers. “I started in 2021 when I wanted a drink not loaded with sugar and preservatives for my then six-year-old son,” says the chartered accountant, “I love cooking and made one at home that was a big hit. My husband is a trainer and I made a vegetarian protein porridge mix for him using millet, nuts, and seeds.”
Millet jaggery soan papdi at Rasa Health Foods
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The sweets and savouries came as customer requests, and today their bestsellers include jowar and foxtail real millet cookies, pearl millet cookies, millet jaggery soan papdi, millet cocoa burfi, and the foxtail ladoo.
For festivals, Jayashree also curates assorted sweet boxes and custom hampers.
Upwards of ₹160 on rasahealthfoods.com
Millet Magic Meal, Chennai
Adhieswari Suresh, co-founder of Millet Maagic Meal — who now operates two restaurants in the city as well — is launching her bestsellers in assorted gift boxes this festive season. You can choose from the gluten-free millet assorted box that features millet cashew cookies, millet beetroot muruku, etc.; the gluten-free millet cookie box with chocochip and red velvet cookies; or the gluten, refined sugar-free ladoo box comprising ragi ladoos, dry fruit and nuts ladoo, among others.
Millet cookies at Millet Maagic Meal
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“We launched our premium cookies a couple of months ago, and are pushing this range as well,” says the 57-year-old, adding that millets are becoming popular among all age groups. “With everyone, especially the older generation getting health conscious and switching to millets, we see great demand for these products.”
Upwards of ₹700 on milletmaagicmeal.in
Varagu boondi ladoo at Pettikadai
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Pettikadai, Coimbatore
In 2017, four friends — Venkatachalam R, Venkatesh V, Anantharam A, and Saravanan V — kickstarted Pettikadai when they yearned for homemade snacks. “We used to travel abroad for work and craved our native snacks and sweets. We decided to start our own venture to give homegrown brands recognition,” says Venkatachalam. The online marketplace retails products from over 17 brands across Tamil Nadu, that are also shipped to over 30 countries.
This year, new launches include varagu Mysorepak, varagu boondi ladoo, thinai ribbon pakoda, samai mixture, and kuthiraivali milagu sev, among other products.
Thinai ribbon pakoda at Pettikadai
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Prior to starting the Coimbatore-based enterprise, he says they approached many vendors, and shops to convince them to get on board. “We researched for close to nine months,” he says, adding that Kerala-based brands retailing halwa, chips, etc. were onboarded last Christmas.
Upwards of ₹150 on pettikadai.in
Arockiya Adumanai, Dindigul
Founded by Barani Dinesh in 2016 to create healthy snacking options for children, the brand retails millet and whole wheat-based sweets and savouries. “I started the brand in Coimbatore when I was looking for healthy snacks for my children, and when I did, we were the only ones making millet-based cookies and brownies with native rice,” says Barani of the women-run business that later moved to Palani.
Sweets at Arockiya Adumanai
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This Deepavali, she will be making millet-based sweets such as ragi halwa, athirasam, Mysore pak, ladoos, and savouries such as murukku and mixture using native rice varieties. “All our sweets are sweetened using jaggery,” she adds.
Upwards of ₹250 on arockiyaadumanai.in
