Demand for dry fruits rises this festive season

MADURAI: With just a few days to go for Diwali, sweet shops in the city are already gearing up for the festival by coming out with newer varieties to meet their customers' needs. Meanwhile, the demand for dry fruits is catching on among middle class consumers.
Middle class families are now opting for dry fruits as Diwali gifts rather than purchasing the traditional sweets.Generally, dry fruits are bought by the elite people in great numbers.
M Jaykumar, owner of Jayram Bakery and Sweets said, "This year, we are planning to order more dry fruit gift boxes printed decoratively with Diwali wishes on the front. Sweets are something that each of us buy during festivals like Diwali, but we wanted to change the trend by shifting to dry fruits as they also have a longer shelf life."
Dry fruits like cashew nuts, almonds, pistachios, raisins, walnuts are the main varieties which sweet shops usually sell ahead of festivals. Sweet shop owners are also taking all out efforts to convince their regular customers to purchase dry fruits over traditional sweets. "Around 50% of the customers purchase these dry fruit boxes to give others as Diwali gifts. This year, most of the shops have decided to go 'green' by introducing eco-friendly paper boxes instead of plastic containers to pack the dry fruits.
Sweets also go waste during the festival season, whereas dry fruits can be used later. Other than dry fruits, there is also a great demand for traditional sweets like 'Laddoo, Mysore Pak, Badushah and Soan Papdi.
"It is customary to distribute sweets during Diwali and as we don't prepare much in our homes these days, dry fruits make an excellent gift material," said Ramu, a software engineer. This year, people are also going for traditional homemade sweets which are being prepared in homes in large quantities by their makers. In Karaikudi in Sivaganga district, Chettinad women are working round-the-clock preparing 'murukku' and 'athirasam'. "Traditional sweets have a longer shelf-life compared to milk sweets that are sold in shops. Since I don't have the time to prepare them myself, I place orders in advance with the makers in Karaikudi," said Seethalakshmi, a teacher.