Americans are fans of Indian sweets, cashews being the most popular
Shops of Maharaja Sweets, Punjab Sweets, Jayashree Sweets are decorated thousands of kilometers away from India. Diwali festival is going on in full swing in all major cities of America. People drive for 3-3 hours to buy sweets from these shops for Rs 1500-2500 per kg.
They are scrambling for sweets that are very popular and not available online. People drive long distances for it. Here, saffron cashew nut is available at Rs 2500 per kg, chocolate roll and chocolate barfi at Rs 2300, malai sandwich at Rs 2000 per kg. Cashews are the most loved dessert in America.
Along with the growing Indian population in America, the grandeur of Indian festivals has also increased. Along with this, there is also a demand for Indian goods. These sweets are a craze among Indians living here, but sweets are also popular among other communities. Sukhdev Bawa, owner of New York's Maharaja Sweets, has more than 80 sweets on his menu. Their employees regularly visit India and return learning new sweet recipes. Their sweets are in demand across America as they make sweets from pure milk and ghee, while here people usually use milk powder as well.
They say that 20% of the total business of the year is done in Diwali alone. Iqbal Kha, who runs Punjab Sweets in Ohio, says he used to drive 3 hours to Canada to buy sweets. Now people drive for hours to buy sweets from him. Only women work in their kitchen. Men only clean. Jayashree Gumpa runs Jayashree Sweets in Hardan.
South Indian sweets are their specialty. Kaza is so popular in America that people take it to India. Kaza is a type of pastry from Andhra Pradesh, which is deep fried. Sohanlal, who opened Brijmohan Indian Sweets and Restaurant in 2005, says the shop stays open for three days on Diwali.
The shop is open for 20 hours, has to have a guard because of the crowd
Ashwin Patel, owner of Surti Farsan Mart, says that shops stay open for 20 hours during Diwali. We have to deploy guards to control the crowd. Quality is very important here. That's why we focus on freshness. We do not keep sweets more than two days old.