Srivilliputhur’s century-old affair with palkova
The Hindu
The story started around 1921, when Dev Singh, a Rajput, set up a sweet stall near the Andal temple and started making the dish
It is a marriage between two very mundane ingredients — milk and sugar — and the resultant product is a dish that touches the sweetest note in one’s taste buds.
But for the food aficionados, this treat, called palkova, hits the right spot only if the milk is sourced from the region around Srivilliputhur in south Tamil Nadu. To protect this product that has its origin in the plains that abut the Western Ghats, the Geographical Indication (GI) tag was procured in 2019, thanks to the sustained efforts by the Srivilliputhur Co-operative Primary Milk Producers Society (SCPMPS).
Folklore has it that in olden days, the teats of milch cattle raised in places such as Vathirairuppu (Watrap), S. Kodikulam and around Srivilliputhur would sometimes overflow with milk. The reason for this abundance was the fertile soil which enabled the growth of rich fodder.
The story of palkova started around 1921, when Dev Singh, a Rajput, set up a sweet stall, Lala Sweets, near the famed Andal temple. Seeing the copious production of milk and also inspired by the prasadam in the temple made of milk, sugar and varied nuts, he started making palkova.
Now it has been renamed as Sri Venkateswara Vilas. Its fourth-generation proprietor, Vijay Merchant, says that even today it is this sweet that flies off the shelves. There are three major players in Srivilliputhur — Sri Venkateswara Vilas, Puliyamarathadi Bhagyalakshmi Palkova, and the SCPMPS. But there are hundreds of little shops selling this sweet in the car streets around the temple.
The day starts early for workers at Sri Venkateswara Vilas. By 7 a.m. farmers bring cans of milk. Using a lactometer, the milk’s quality and fat content are measured. If the fat content is more than 7% the milk is used to make palkova. Milk with lesser fat content is used to make other sweets. The fat-rich milk is poured in huge vessels and for 10 litres of milk around 1.5 kg of sugar is added and set to boil. Earlier, cashew shells sourced from Kerala were used as firewood but now the unit is semi-mechanised. Within half-an-hour, the boiling milk starts to thicken and the worker increases his stirring pace. The milk begins to condense with some clinging to the ladle. A wee bit begins to congeal and a little portion even sticks to the side of the cauldron waiting to be scrapped, while the rest curls around itself and lightly tumbles to the bottom. The decadent dish is now ready to be removed and placed in racks that are left to cool for 15 minutes. By 8 a.m., the first batch of palkova is packed and is on the counter for sales.
For all who love this dish, the first scoop gently dissolves in the mouth leaving a lingering taste. One is never enough, say lovers of this sweet.