Peda

The pride of Mathura, Peda is possibly the most humble of all Indian sweetmeats. A simple mixture of thickened milk and sugar, Peda is served as bhog (holy offerings to gods and goddesses) in almost every temple across India. Deeply rooted in Hindu mythology, Peda has been the food for gods since eons. The sweetmeat finds mention even in the Vedas, dating back to 1500 BC. It is believed that the Peda was in fact one of Lord Gopal’s (also what young Krishna is known as) favourite desserts.

Legend goes, Yashoda was boiling milk one day and mistakenly left it on the fire for too long. When she finally remembered and rushed back to the kitchen, she saw the milk had thickened and taken up a dense consistency. She promptly mixed it with some sugar and fed it to Gopal. Baby Krishna loved the treat so much that it soon became his favourite. Hence, all Krishna temples across the globe serve Peda as their mahaprasad (main offering). The oldest sweetshop in Mathura, Totaram Halwai, dates back to 1832. It was here that the Peda was first fine-tuned into a commercial dessert.

Interestingly, Peda was also the sweet of choice for renowned statesman and India's first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Nehru’s repeated requests to Professor Krishnachandra (the then Member of Parliament from Mathura) for the sweetmeats on the latter’s visit to Delhi was a humorous legend. Dr Rajendra Prasad, the first Indian President, also enjoyed the sweet pleasures of this delectable.

The sweet has travelled through annals of history over centuries and been a constant presence through epoch-making events. From being Bheem and Lord Hanuman’s preferred sweetmeat in the Indian epics of Mahabharata and Ramayana, the Peda has also graced the unforgettable ceremony of Indian independence.

Modern renditions of Peda have also cropped up now. For example, the 2017’s Memory Peda was invented by Mangalore’s Sajjan HV, a farmer living in Hulikere village of the area. In a bid to increase his sales, Sajjan wanted to replicate the Dharwad Peda, also called the Thakur Peda. But its makers did not let go of the secret recipe, citing patents. With ghee, copra milk, jaggery and sugar, Sajjan conjured the new Peda. The name understandably highlighted the ingredients’ function in promoting memory and brain health.