Summer Sweets: What Survives the Andhra Heat

An Andhra summer is hard on sweets. When it is 40 degrees outside, milk sweets spoil quickly, sugar-syrup sweets turn sticky and anything with chocolate or cream simply melts. If you are buying sweets between April and June, it pays to choose carefully.

Sweets that handle the heat

Fried, dry sweets do best. Kaja, especially gottam kaja, holds its shape and crunch. Putharekulu, bellam gavvalu and dry fruit laddu keep well in a closed tin. Ghee sweets like boondi laddu also keep, as long as they stay out of direct sun.

Sweets to buy small and eat quickly

Milk sweets such as kova, kalakand and ice cream barfi are best bought in small quantities in summer, kept in the fridge and eaten within a couple of days. Take them out a few minutes before serving so they soften.

Summer's own specials

Summer has its rewards. It is mango season, which means fresh mamidi tandra, the sun-dried mango jelly that needs strong summer sun to make. It is also the season for making avakaya, the mango pickle that Andhra families put up in May to last the year.

Snacks for summer evenings

Light, crisp namkeen like vamu komulu, janthikalu and karam boondi are easier in the heat than heavy sweets. Keep them in airtight jars so the humidity doesn't soften them.

Sending sweets in summer

If you are sending sweets to another city in summer, choose dry, fried sweets over milk sweets. They travel through hot courier vans much better and arrive the way they left our kitchen.