What We Buy for Our Home Is What We Use for You: The Real Cost of Pure Sweets
By Aashish Gajangi ·
Now and then a customer tells us, kindly but honestly, that our sweets cost more than they expected. It is a fair thing to say, and it deserves a full answer. So here are the real numbers from our kitchen, what food scientists and food safety officials have found about sweets, and five simple questions you can ask about any sweet, ours included.
Our one rule
We buy for your order exactly what we would buy for our own home. When we go shopping, we pick the ghee and the cashew we would bring home for our own family's festival, never the pack that looks attractive only because its price is low. If we would not serve it to our family, it does not go into your box.
Pure ghee, nothing blended
We pay ₹800 to ₹950 for a kilo of pure ghee. We never use vanaspati, "ghee-flavoured" blends or other cheaper fats.
Real cashew, nothing to stretch it
Cashew costs us about ₹1,100 a kilo. Our kaju katli is cashew, sugar, a little ghee and silver varq, and nothing else.
Jaggery and fresh coconut
Our modak, shengdana ladoo and puran poli are sweetened with jaggery, and our modak are filled with fresh coconut.
Nothing to make it last
No preservatives and no colour, which is why everything is made after you order.
Why kaju katli can cost ₹800 or ₹2,400 a kilo
Look around and you will find kaju katli at very different prices. One mithai price guide puts it plainly: one shop quotes ₹800 a kilo, another ₹2,400, and both call it kaju katli. The difference is mostly what is inside.
Food scientists who studied kaju katli found that it tastes best at about 65% cashew and 35% sugar. They also noted that because its ingredients are expensive, kaju katli is often stretched with cheaper fillers such as starch, extra sugar, lactose or skim milk powder (Journal of Microbiology, Biotechnology and Food Sciences). Every gram of filler is a gram less of cashew.
What goes into one 500 g box of ours
Using that 65:35 recipe and the prices we paid this October, here is roughly what the ingredients alone cost for one 500 g box:
Ingredients for one 500 g kaju katli box
Cashew, about 325 g at ₹1,100 a kilo₹358
Sugar, about 175 g₹8
Pure ghee₹9
Edible silver varq₹15
Ingredients aloneabout ₹390
Approximate. Cashew prices change through the year.
That is before the gift box, the gas, the hours of grinding, cooking, rolling and cutting by hand, the packing, and the delivery. Our 1 kg box works out to ₹1,599 a kilo, in the middle of that ₹800 to ₹2,400 range, with nothing added to stretch it.
What Maharashtra's FDA found this festive season
This is not about any one shop. It is simply why it is worth asking what is in your sweets. In September 2026, ahead of the festivals, Maharashtra's Food and Drug Administration seized and destroyed suspected adulterated and substandard food worth over ₹1.36 crore across the state, about 32,000 kg in all, including khoya, mawa, ghee, barfi and sweets. It suspended the licences of 12 establishments (Deccan Chronicle).
Cheap ingredients are cheap for a reason. We would rather make fewer sweets the right way than more sweets the cheap way.
The silver varq on top
Even the thin silver sheet on kaju katli has rules. FSSAI's standard for edible silver leaf requires silver of at least 99.9% purity, sheets no heavier than 2.8 g per square metre, and no material of animal origin at any stage of making (FSSAI notification, 2016). Ours is machine-made, fully vegetarian silver varq, made with no material of animal origin and assay-tested at 99.9% pure silver. Good varq is part of what you pay for.
Pure ghee is what you taste in a besan ladoo
A besan ladoo has only three ingredients: besan, sugar and ghee. The ghee is the costliest of the three, and it is the one you taste. We roast the besan slowly in pure ghee, stirring all the time, until the kitchen smells nutty. That is what makes the ladoo melt in your mouth instead of sitting heavy. Swap the ghee for a cheaper fat and the price drops, and so does the ladoo.
Made fresh, by hand, after you order
Because we add no preservatives, we cannot make a big batch and keep it for days. Every order is made after you place it, which is why we ask for at least 4 hours' notice and a minimum of 10 pieces. Each modak is shaped by hand, each ladoo rolled by hand, each puran poli filled and rolled by hand, by the family that also packs and delivers it. Our kitchen is FSSAI licensed (licence 21525012000831).
Five questions to judge any sweet's price
- Is it made with pure ghee, or with vanaspati or a blend?
- Is the kaju katli mostly cashew? It should taste of cashew first, not of milk or plain sugar.
- Is the silver varq smooth and even on the surface?
- When was it made: today, for you, or days ago for a showcase?
- Does the seller show an FSSAI licence number?
If a sweet costs much less, one of these answers is usually different. Ask us any of them, any time.
Ways to save with us
- Ukadiche modak: 21 for ₹699 instead of ₹735.
- Shengdana ladoo: 11 for ₹199, or 21 for ₹379.
- Delivery is free within 3 km of our kitchen, or pick up your order from Hanuman Tekdi, Borivali East.
- Order together with family or neighbours, so one delivery brings everyone's sweets.
Kaju Katli · काजू कतलीOrders for this batch are closed. Message us on WhatsApp about the next one.See details and order →
Besan Ladoo · बेसन लाडूFrom ₹30 a piece · minimum 10 pieces · made fresh to orderSee details and order →
Ukadiche Modak · उकडीचे मोदकFrom ₹35 a piece · minimum 10 pieces · made fresh to orderSee details and order →Want to know exactly what is in our sweets? Message us on WhatsApp and we will tell you, ingredient by ingredient. You can also read what makes a good besan ladoo and how to spot good kaju katli.