Dear friends, Do U Know something about "Thirupathi Laddu" Here is an interesting fact. There is a unique taste to these laddoos, because they are made on the temple premises and has Perumal Arul, (Lods’s blessings) This is all I can say because even if I buy the same ingredients from the same suppliers and get the same cooks to make them at home the taste will never be the same , says Neravallur Srinivas Ramesh Popularly called as ladoo Ramesh. His father Srinivas Iyengar was a Mirasdar who ran the kitchen at the Tirumala temple. He lost his job in 1996 when the government abolished the hereditary mirasidar system and TTD which manages the temple, took over laddoo making . Ramesh who had followed his father’s footsteps to join the Potu ( Kitchen) was forced to eke out a living by selling bottles of mineral water. He and his family however did not leave Tirumala. As luck would have it, TTD decided to hire former mirasidars in May 2001. Since then Ramesh has been working as laddoo maker on contract. He say without the veterans in the kitchen without whom he would not be able to make a single laddoo – from 62 year old R. Gopalan , who has 40 years of experience in laddoo making, to Santosh, 20 who makes 2000 laddoos a day. I need all their support for making the best laddoos, says Ramesh. The laddoo makers at Tirupati work with clockwork precision. There are four shifts in a day and 40 people work in each shift to make 40 trays of 2000 laddoos each. A standard laddoo weigh 175 grams , and has at least 5 cashew nuts, four pieces of sugar candy and equal number of raisins, and three cloves of cardamom which are crushed to give the laddoo its signature fragrance. About 5,000 kgs of besan flour , 10,000 kgs of sugar, 1,000 kgs of cashewnuts, 350 kgs of cardamom, 500 kgs of ghee, 500 kgs of sugar candy, and 750 kgs of raisins go into preparation of laddoo every day. The first 400 laddoos made in the day are offered to Lord Sri Venkateswara . These are then broken and mixed with the rest of the boondi which is spread across 12 feet long room to pout sugar syrup over it. The boondi is left for 15 minutes to cool off, after which other ingredients are added. Each worker keeps a bowl of warm ghee beside him .They dip their hands in ghee for every three laddoo s they roll. While the standard laddoo cost Rs. 25/- the big laddoo which weights 700 grams come with Rs. 1000 Kalyanam pooja. Around 1.2 lakh laddoos are made every day. And the annual sales revenue is Rs. 2 crore. The laddoo prasadam started in 1942 . Before that manoharam was given as prasadam. Made of rice and jaggery, this too was equally popular , says Laddoo Ramesh. The temple serves other prasadams as well. There is anna prasadam, which includes Pongal, Shakkara pongal , pulihora. Regular prasadams include Kadambam, (mixed vegetable rice) Mathrai ( rice flavoured with butter, ginger, and pepper) In earlier times laddoos were cooked on wood fire. LPG stoves were introduced in 1984 boosting the daily production of laddoos. In 2009 the TTD applied for GI tag for Tirupati Laddoo. The same year , it got a patent under the Geographical Indications of Goods ( Registration and protection) Act . Ramesh however says the GI tag is no big deal. “ I don’t think the Tirupati prasadam need a GI tag” he says no value can be added to the laddoo. If you say there will be recognition, then I will say it all belongs to the Perumal.” PATRIOTIC CITIZEN
Posted on: Fri, 30 Aug 2013 10:29:11 +0000
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