Many SHG members are engaged in making traditional sweets and snacks. One such enterprise is Yogalakshmi Sweets in Kallapalayam near Eddapadi in Salem.

The owner of the business, Kanimozhi, makes mysorepak and boondi laddus, besides savoury mixtures, murukku and kara sevai, both for ready sales and against orders. The savouries, sold at Rs.60 per kg in pack sizes from 150gms to 1 kg, have an assured shelf life of three weeks. The laddus at Rs.65 per kg stay fresh for ten days and the pure ghee mysorepak, for fifteen.

Kanimozhi’s unit has the capacity to make 500 kgs of snacks per day. In the festive season she takes orders for up to ten days ahead but at other times, a week’s notice is sufficient. Eateries in the Salem area which place bulk orders of several hundred or even thousand kilos collect from Kanimozhi’s doorstep. For door delivery, charges are billed to the customer.

Karaikudi snack foods
The sweets, snacks and preserves of this region are famous. K T Valliammai of the Dhanalakshmi Manram runs a successful business making a vast variety of these delicacies against orders in Kandalur, near Karaikudi, a region in Chettinad famed for its fine cuisine.

Handmade murukkus of four, five, seven and nine concentric circles. (Rs.105 per kg) thenkuzhal (30 pieces for Rs.75) seepu seedai and manakolam (both Rs.100 per kg) adirasam (Rs.2.50 each) maavurundai (Rs.4 each) are all made at home daily, under Valliammai’s supervision, by five SHG members. Orders are also taken for naada pakoda and yelladai. Valliammai’s products have an assured shelf life of three weeks.

Apart from these, the group also prepares traditional vatthals (salted and dried vegetables for use in gravies) such as avarekkai/broad beans (Rs. 320 per kg) katthiri/eggplant (Rs.120 per kg) manga/raw mango (Rs.60 per kg) and medhukkavatthal/dill (Rs 100 per kg) as well as lemon, mango and special mountain garlic pickles (Rs. 60, Rs.70 and Rs.100 per kg respectively). Another speciality is the Chettinad roasted white chilli and urad dal powder (traditionally eaten with hot rice), at Rs.50 per kg.

The best testimony of their quality is that the group’s sweets and snacks travel to far off places, from Malaysia to the United States, with only word of mouth advertising.

Many other groups in the Karaikudi area also make a variety of traditional snacks, preserves and pickles. Contact us to get in touch with them.


Note: Figures quoted are approximations and liable to change

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