Sweet war: People prefer chocolates over traditional mawa

JAIPUR: Amidst fear of unscrupulous traders adulterating mawa during the festive season, chocolates and dry fruits has emerged as a substitute of sweets. From traditional ladoo and mithai, many people are now migrating to dry fruits, chocolates and bakery products.
A report released by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) on October 9 indicates that the demand for chocolate during festivals has received a big push.
"Ahead of the festival, the demand of chocolates has increased by 35% more than last year in urban areas due to rising awareness about adulterated and high-priced traditional sweets available in the market," said D S Rawat, ASSOCHAM secretary general while releasing the chamber's analysis on trends.
These trends are evident in the markets too. All major shops in the town have altered their product list with more focus on bakery products, dry fruits and foreign and in-house made chocolates this year.
"Customer demands are clearly changing. People now demand more of dry fruits than going for mawa sweets. Shopkeepers have to keep those items which are in demand," said Rakesh Haritwan of Kanji sweets.
During the festive season, the sale of spurious mawa increases as some traders push in adulterated products in the market just to make a few bucks more. Though the practices have been largely foiled after raids but it has dented the reputation and business of sweets houses. Riding on these fears, the chocolate companies have captured the huge chunk of the sweet market.
"People are finding the dry fruits and cookies more appealing. Apart from fear of spurious mawa, long shelf-life of bakery products, chocolates and dry fruits also works in their favour. Sweets can be stored up to a week whereas chocolates and biscuits can be stored for months," said, Sunil Mittal of Kanha Sweets.
However, there are few mawa traders who claimed it to be negative publicity floated by the branded chocolate companies. "Most of the shops in the city use in-house mawa for manufacturing of mithai. It has become a custom to malign sweet sellers in the name of spurious mawa," said Abhinav Kumar of Jodhpur Misthan Bhandar. He added, "There is no denying that some small shopkeepers are involved in such malpractices. But then there are shops which have maintained their quality since ages and are trustworthy."