Indian cuisine is known all over the world as the sweet cuisine. Almost half of our dishes are sweets and desserts which have spread to become popular worldwide. There is a vast variety of Indian sweets ranging from simple dessert bites to exotic confectioneries. Our Indian sweets have grown to not only be famous throughout the the world, but also find mention in European and American menus.
We Indians are famous for having a sweet tooth, and we are always on a lookout for an occasion to consume sweets. The English word sugar comes from a Sanskrit word ‘sharkara’ for the refined sugar, while the word candy comes from Sanskrit word ‘khaanda’, for the unrefined sugar which is one of the simplest raw forms of sweet. It is known by different names in different regions, one common name being ‘mithai’.
There’s wide array of Indian sweets, the origin of few even dates back to 19thcentury. It is one of the most relished sweetmeats in India and till now it retains the same love and fondness by people. The culture of having payasam (or kheer) by newly wedded couples is still going strong, especially in the Southern India where it has been passed down to generations, from where the tradition started.