Avoid Adulterated Mawa This Holi: Here are 5 Ways To Check Purity At Home

New Delhi: As Holi approach, homes across the country are filled with the aroma of sweets and festive cheer. Mawa, or khoya, is a key ingredient in many traditional Indian desserts like barfi, peda, and kheer. However, with the surge in demand during the festive season, the market often sees a rise in adulterated mawa. 

The Food Security and Drug Administration on Wednesday seized about nine quintals of adulterated mawa and edible oil worth Rs 29.8 lakh in Kanpur. The adulterated mawa and oil were brought via an Etawah-Kanpur passenger train. The raid was conducted at Panki Railway Station, were mawa valued Rs 3.42 lakh seized and was immediately transported to a disposal plant and destroyed.

Reason of adulteration?

‘Mawa’ is just like gold for the dairy industries. It is useful, taste-enhancing, healthy and gives a rich flavour. But one disadvantage which it has is related to its expensiveness. This is the main reason, it is used in small amounts in the sweet dishes or the dishes which are to be made with it.

Often sellers mix cheaper ingredients like potato, water chestnut flour, refined flour, or starch with synthetic milk to mimic real mawa. 

How to Identify Adulterated Mawa?

This question always arises that how do we check whether the mawa is adulterated or not. Then for that, here are a few simple ways to check if the mawa you're buying is genuine or not.

Khoya in hot water?

In the first method, according to the Food Standards and Safety Authority (FSSAI), take a teaspoon of khoya from the packet and add it to a cup of hot water. Next, add a little bit of iodine in the cup. If the khoya turns blue after dropping iodine in it, then it has been adulterated using starch. If not, it is pure and fit for human consumption.

Will natural method help?

For the second method, take a small khoya piece in a beaker and add some concentrated sulphuric acid to it. If there is a violet-coloured formation in the sample, then it might be adulterated.

Fresh and test?

For the third method, take a fresh mawa for testing and test it right at the time of buying. As per FSSAI, fresh mawa has an oily and grainy texture. Take a mawa piece, before purchasing it, rub it on your palm. If it has the above characteristics, it is pure. You can also taste it to check if it has that natural sweetness to it or not.

How to check presence of vanaspati?

In the fourth method, to test the presence of vanaspati in the sample, take a piece of mawa, then mix two tbsp hydrochloric acid and one tbsp sugar to it. If the mixture turns red, the sample is impure and unfit for human consumption.

Test by heating?

For the fifth method, take a mawa piece and heat it in a pan and add 1 tbsp sugar to it. As the sugar melts and if the mawa starts leaving water on the sides of the pan, it is surely adulterated and is unfit for human consumption.