World Environment Day 2024 | Thinking outside the sweet box

The story of India Sweet began with an organic dairy farm that was established five years ago. “The idea was to practice organic farming for which we needed cow dung. So, we brought about 150 cows to the farm, but with cows come milk,” says Shweta Rajashekar, co-founder, adding that they pondered about what to do with the surplus.

Did you know you could walk into any outlet of India Sweet House with your own container for your purchases? Of course, they do have their own packaging, but this is one of the many sustainable habits the brand practises.

“As far as possible, we have tried to keep plastic use to a minimum,” says Shweta Rajashekar, co-founder and director, of the two-and-a-half-year-old brand. “We use cutlery made of sugarcane bagasse and banana leaves to dish out samples. Plus, from April this year, we began rewarding customers who walked in with their own boxes and carry bags with a special discount,” she adds.

The story of India Sweet began with an organic dairy farm that was established five years ago. “The idea was to practice organic farming for which we needed cow dung. So, we brought about 150 cows to the farm, but with cows come milk,” she laughs, adding that they pondered about what to do with the surplus.

They employed a green method of delivering milk in glass bottles, but it was not proving viable. Then, they hit on the idea of making sweets, as they were already producing ghee and khoya, and supplying it to sweet-makers, among other customers.

“We decided a sweet brand of our own, using organic milk, would be a value addition to the business. We could continue to nurture our cows, provide organic products and retain our ethos.”

In keeping with their guiding principle of creating organic products, the brand does not use varak (silver leaf) on their sweets.

“We also don’t use artificial colouring, which was initially difficult for customers who would see rather similar-looking confectionery behind our counters,” she says, adding it took some persuasion to convince buyers that kaju katli without the silver leaf tasted just the same.