Kovilpatti Kadalai Mittai Groundnut Candy Tamil Nadu

Kovilpatti Kadalai Mittai is a GI-tagged groundnut candy from Kovilpatti town in Thoothukudi district, Tamil Nadu — a thin, crisp wafer of roasted groundnut bound in palm jaggery (karupatti) or sugarcane jaggery syrup, considered one of Tamil Nadu's most distinctive traditional sweets. The candy is made in a continuous production process: jaggery is dissolved and cooked to a precise thread stage, roasted groundnuts are folded in, and the mixture is spread in thin sheets on flat stone slabs, then cut into wafers before it sets. The use of traditional karupatti (dark palm jaggery) from the Palmyra palm gives Kovilpatti Mittai its characteristic dark amber colour and deep caramel flavour, distinct from the lighter groundnut chikki of Maharashtra. Kovilpatti's dry climate and Palmyra palm abundance made it the natural home of karupatti-based confectionery. The town has over 200 mittai workshops of varying scale. Kovilpatti Kadalai Mittai received GI status in 2011. The sweet is exported to Tamil diaspora communities in Singapore, Malaysia, and the USA. Tamil Nadu government food festivals and the THDFC promote Kovilpatti mittai as a heritage food product of southern Tamil Nadu.