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Ghevar remains favourite in Braj on Raksha Bandhan
Ghevar, a sweet dish from Rajasthan, has gained popularity in the Braj region. This year, it occupied 75% of the market, surpassing other sweets and dry fruits. It is now available until Janamashtami, and more varieties like butter scotch ghevar have been added.
Crossing the cultural boundaries, ghevar, a sweet dish originally from Rajasthan, has now become a popular delicacy in Braj region. Apart from regular sweets sold briskly on the festive occasion, ghevar remained favourite among sweet lovers on Raksha Bandhan this year too.
With more varieties added this year like ‘Butter Scotch Ghevar’, this special sweet occupied 75% of the market, far ahead of ‘chhena’ sweets and dry fruits.
“Ghevar continued to be the favourite amongst women and girls who bought sweets for their brothers on Raksha Bandhan. While expecting this craze, we had added extra quantity to our stock and found a good number of takers for it,” said Shishir Bhagat, owner of a popular sweet shop chain in Agra.
“The popularity of ghevar can be gauged from the fact that earlier its availability used to end with the festival of Raksha Bandhan, but now the sale extends till Janamashtami,” added Bhagat.
“The ghevar was introduced here as a part of cultural exchange with bordering state of Rajasthan and now it seems to have scaled high in popularity during the rainy season. In Rajasthan, one can find ghevar on sweets shops round the year. But here in Braj, it is confined to Shravan month,” said another veteran sweet maker.
“With changing times, more varieties are being added like milk ghevar, malai ghevar, kesar ghevar, chocolate ghevar, mini ghevar which are common ones now. Now customers ask for crispy pieces instead of soft ghevar preferred earlier. This year we had a good market for butter scotch ghevar and icing on this traditional sweet is widely accepted,” said Bhagat.
“Ghevar is basically a dish originating from Rajasthan but now a popular one here, especially in month of Shravan. Now it is much popular sweet in Braj region with districts of Agra and Aligarh division having all varieties of it,” added Bhagat, a fifth generation sweet maker in Agra.
