Surat store offering sweets covered in gold for Raksha Bandhan

Q13. The original product was created by Harutun and Esther Batmazian, an Armenian trader and his wife, who arrived in Cork in 1902 after fleeing pogroms in the Ottoman Empire. They exhibited his confections at the Great Cork International Exhibition that year. The business was set up in Cork City where it thrived although after WWI there was an incident with the premises being burned, it is assumed it occurred when soldiers returning from the Gallipoli offensive mistook the family as Turks. Batmazian moved the shop from Lower Glanmire street to McCurtain street and set about explaining the family heritage to the local people. The sweet became a regional favourite. The business exported it confections to Harrods in London and Bloomingdale's in New York. It was even supplied to Buckingham Palace. Name this delight. (Image: Reuters)

Bored of feeding the same old sweets to your brother on Raksha Bandhan? Well, here's your chance to try something new. Believe it or not, a sweets store in Surat called 24 Carat Mithai Magic is selling a dry fruit specialty sweet covered in 24 carat pure gold leaf. The store is offering a kg of the sweet for Rs 9,000.

The 80-year-old brand wanted to make the festival grand this year and opted to cover the dry fruit special in gold. "The sweet is made of dry fruits and gulkhand and we have replaced the silver sheet we generally use for covering sweets with a gold one this year to make Rakha Bandhan celebrations grand," said Radha Mithaiwala, owner of the sweet shop.

People have been buying 500 grams and above of the sweet. A limited amount of the sweet has been displayed at the Parle Point, Surat outlet.

"People have already shown interest in the sweet and are buying it in small portions and placing orders for Raksha Bandhan. Gujarat celebrates the festival in a grand manner and what is better than gold to make any occasion grander," Mithaiwala added.

After the gold sweets, 24 Carat Mithai Magic would be prepping up for the special edition of Gujarat’s specialty mewa sweets Ghari. The traditional sweet with be given a modern twist and prepared in 17 different flavours including chocolate, strawberry, mango among others.

Gujarat, which is known for its gold and diamond works, has been incorporating the yellow metal in edible items for some time now. Last year Huber and Holly, the ice cream parlour run by Havmor, introduced a special gold edition ice cream at its Ahmedabad outlet, aptly named the Mighty Midas collection, it was priced at Rs 1,000 per serving. The exotic dessert comes wrapped in a 24-carat gold foil with edible gold flakes.