Petha (

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

: पेठा pronounced ) is a translucent soft

candy Candy, alternatively called sweets or lollies, is a Confectionery, confection that features sugar as a principal ingredient. The category, also called ''sugar confectionery'', encompasses any sweet confection, including chocolate, chewing gum ...

from the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

made from

ash gourd ''Benincasa hispida'', the wax gourd, also called ash gourd, white gourd, winter gourd, winter melon, tallow gourd, ash pumpkin, Chinese preserving melon, is a vine grown for its very large fruit, eaten as a vegetable when mature. It is nat ...

or white pumpkin. It is simply called ''petha'' in Hindi and Urdu.T. R. Gopalakrishnan

Preparation

Ash gourds, commonly referred to as white pumpkins, are a vegetable with a pale-green exterior and white, heavily seeded, savoury inside that is used to make petha. The gourd is sliced into bite-sized pieces and then cured for a few hours in a solution of

Calcium Hydroxide Calcium hydroxide (traditionally called slaked lime) is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula Ca( OH)2. It is a colorless crystal or white powder and is produced when quicklime ( calcium oxide) is mixed with water. Annually, approxim ...

, locally known as ''Choona'' or ''Soon''. After removing the gourd pieces from the ''Choona'' solution, they're boiled until soft, and then soaked in sugar syrup. The final candy has a sugar-crisp exterior and an almost moist, sticky interior with a firm, crunchy, and almost crystalline texture. The flavouring of Agra's confections is considered to be inventive, and candy counters in the city are rainbows of vibrantly coloured petha, flavoured with everything from paan to rose. With growing demand and innovation, more varieties of the original preparation are available. Many flavoured variants are available, e.g. ''kesar petha'', ''angoori petha'' etc. There are some other variations based on content, one with coconut mixed, another with some nuts put into it. Sometimes kewda essence is used to flavour petha.Ammas cooking

History

Petha is said to have been in the subcontinent under various names like Oal and Oal ka

Murabba Murabba (from ) is a sweet fruit preserve which is popular in many regions of South Caucasus, Central Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East. It is generally prepared with fruits, sugar, and spices. A similar dish to murabba ( spoon sweets) is al ...

in places like modern-day Jharkhand and Bihar. There is a legend that says that it originated in Mughal kitchens under Shah Jahan and was used to feed the workers constructing the

Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal ( ; ; ) is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was commissioned in 1631 by the fifth Mughal Empire, Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his belo ...

, but it's highly unlikely considering that there is no mention of Petha in cookbooks of Shah Jahan like Nuskha-e-Shahjahani. There are mentions of dishes resembling Petha before the Mughals came to the subcontinent. Petha is also not like typical Mughal sweets and dishes which were rich in milk and mawa.

Controversy

In Agra, countless tiny businesses produce different varieties of the treat for visitors who come to view the Taj Mahal every year. When the government designated an 80-kilometer (50-mile) radius around the Taj Mahal as the "Taj Trapezium Zone" and outlawed the use of coal-powered industry in that area, the city's iconic confection became a source of dispute. The Taj's white marble, which is readily stained by air pollution, was intended to be protected by the rule, but local petha producers, some of whom use coal to boil their sugar syrup, argued that the law damaged their operations. Despite the controversy, the sweets are still abundant in bright rows in the sweet shops along the popular tourist route that leads to the Taj's entrance.

References

{{reflist Agra Economy of Agra Uttar Pradeshi cuisine Indian confectionery

Preparation

History

Controversy

See also

References