Dharwad Peda Sweet North Karnataka Cotton Jowar

Dharwad district in north Karnataka is famous for the Dharwad Peda — a caramelised khoya (milk solid) sweet with a rustic crumbly texture made by the Ram Ashraya and son shops in Dharwad's main bazaar — a GI-tagged product that is one of Karnataka's most beloved regional sweets, gifted at festivals and government events. The district grows cotton, jowar (sorghum), sunflower, and Bengal gram on its black cotton soil belt of the Deccan plateau; Dharwad's cotton ginning and pressing units supply raw cotton to Hubli-Dharwad's textile processing cluster. Karnataka's premier agricultural university (UAS Dharwad) and a concentration of research institutions make the district a centre of agricultural science.