Diwali is just around the corner, and we are all getting geared up for it. Indians all around the world are now preparing themselves for this grand festival, which will take place on November 7th, 2018. And while you are cleaning up your house and surroundings for the festival of lights, you need to do something else as well. This is the time of the year when we eat a lot of sweets and spread joy. No matter how much you try to avoid your sweet tooth, Diwali will always leave you yearning for Kaju ki barfi, soan papdi and besan ke ladoo. Shops will stock up on innumerous sweets this festive season, and we will have a tough time staying away from them all.
Eat all you may but have you ever wondered about the ingredients that go into you mithai and how shops keep with the increasing demand for them? It is quite sad that a lot of shops will forego quality for quantity by selling adulterated sweets. This adulteration is seen especially in milk-based sweets. And sometimes, unethical people will deliberately add harmful substances to your beloved sweets to deliberately cause problems.
Ingredients and Adulteration
Some of the most prominent adulterated sweets are milk, vark and khoya. Instead of pure silver, some shops use aluminium foil in the sweets they serve. And milk can contain urea, chalk and chemical whiteners. Khoya can also have adulteration with paper and starch. Are you ready to ingest the adulterated sweets?
How can you check?
Fortunately, there are some ways that you can use to check adulterated sweets. For example, to see whether the vark used on your favoured dish is aluminium foil, gently touch the top of the sweet, If the foil comes off onto your fingers, then there are chances for it to be fake.
In other cases, such as milk and khoya, starch can increase the texture and its richness. Boil the sweet with some water and cool it. Then put some iodine solution onto the dish. If the solution turns blue, then your sample might have adulteration. Ghee can also have adulteration with vanaspati and animal fat. To check if the ghee is pure, heat it. Pure ghee should melt immediately before turning into a dark brown colour. Milk that has adulteration with water will flow immediately on a flat surface. It will not leave a trail behind it while pure blood will not flow immediately.