Every (Deepavali) Dessert Has a Story

Mysore pak was invented by a man called Kakasura Madappa, head chef of Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV, king of Mysore – a city in southern India. While preparing a buffet of sweets and desserts for the king’s banquet, Kakasura stumbled across this simple combination of gram flour, sugar and ghee. Upon presenting his new creation to the king, Krishnaraja named the sweet Mysore pak, translating to ‘Mixture of Mysore’. The king’s new favourite dessert was a hit with his subjects as well and as a result, spread far beyond the kingdom to the rest of India and – eventually – Malaysia too.

Palkova is a rich, creamy dessert invented in the town of Srivilliputtur, Tamil Nadu. It is thought that Rajput soldiers who immigrated from modern-day Rajasthan brought khoya – a dairy product made from dried or reduced whole milk – southwards with them. One day, someone added sugar to the mix as they were making khoya, giving birth to pal-khoya; ‘pal’ being the Tamil word for milk. Over time, this was shortened to palkova. During the 1970’s, India’s government launched an initiative to make India the world’s largest milk producer, and with all this surplus milk, palkova exploded in popularity.

We’ve only just begun to scratch the surface of India’s desserts, but we’ll save some for next Deepavali. For now, go impress your friends and family with some newfound food facts and have a very Happy Deepavali!