{"id":8486,"date":"2026-10-26T18:39:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T09:39:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/?post_type=sweetlore&p=8486"},"modified":"2026-10-31T18:50:47","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T09:50:47","slug":"singori","status":"publish","type":"sweetlore","link":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/en\/sweetlore\/singori\/","title":{"rendered":"Singori"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Singori (Singori, Singodi) is a sweet from the state of Uttarakhand in which a confection of reduced milk is wrapped in a leaf folded into a cone. It is known as a specialty of the Kumaon region, including Almora, but it also has a long association with Tehri Garhwal to the west. The leaf wraps the milk sweet and gives it its shape, and it also adds aroma. The wrapping is removed before eating.<\/p>\n

Reducing milk while leaving a slight graininess<\/h2>\n

The main ingredient, khoa, is a concentrated dairy product made by heating milk to reduce its moisture. Unlike cheese, which is made by setting milk with acid and removing the whey, khoa is made by gathering the milk solids in the pan. Sugar is added, and the mixture is finished to a consistency that can be packed into the leaf.<\/p>\n

Its color ranges from white to lightly tinted, and a slight graininess remains within the soft mass of milk. In the Almora district\u2019s method, cardamom and coconut also add flavor. Once it is taken out of the leaf, you taste not only the milk but also the aroma of the wrapping leaf, called malu.<\/p>\n

A 2016 study comparing commercial products from Kumaon recorded a process that uses khoa made from cow\u2019s or buffalo milk, adds sugar and flavorings, and creates graininess with a small amount of tartaric acid. Unlike the process of making cheese by separating the whey with acid, this is a small addition used to adjust the texture of a reduced-milk sweet. In the process recorded in the same study, the warm confection is spread in a greased container and left for a while before being packed into the leaves.<\/p>\n

\n\"An\n
An example of khoa, made by reducing milk. It shows the milk solids used in singori. Photo: Miansari66 \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ dedicated to the public domain by the copyright holder. We obtained the image as tonally adjusted on Commons in 2014; no additional processing was applied for this page.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

The wrapping leaf creates the shape<\/h2>\n

The leaf is folded into a cone, and the milk sweet is packed inside. The wrapped leaf itself holds the shape of the soft milk sweet. Its form, with a wide open end and a narrow, tapering tip, comes from the way the leaf is wrapped.<\/p>\n

The malu leaf is a feature that distinguishes this sweet from other khoa sweets. The aroma of the leaf layers over the flavors of milk, coconut and cardamom, and together with the cone shape, it gives singori its characteristic finish.<\/p>\n

Bal mithai<\/a>, also from Almora, is a sweet in which milk is cooked until brown and coated on the outside with white sugar balls. With singori, the leaf is removed and the milk part is eaten. Although both use reduced milk, they differ in how the cooking is finished and in what is used on the outside, so they also differ in appearance and in the aroma you notice when eating them.<\/p>\n

\n\"For\n
For comparison: bal mithai from Almora. A milk sweet reduced until brown is coated on the outside with white sugar balls. It is a different sweet from singori, which is wrapped in a leaf. Photo: Vkumarzone at English Wikipedia \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY 3.0<\/a>. The saved original image was used; no additional processing was applied for this page.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Memories of Tehri, and a family story from Almora<\/h2>\n

Tehri, too, has memories of singori as a beloved specialty of the town. \u201cMeri Tehri,\u201d a memoir looking back on Tehri, records that the town\u2019s singori was known far and wide and that people from the plains called it \u201cthe sweet wrapped in a leaf.\u201d A memory also remains that the singori from Negi\u2019s shop was especially well regarded. The memory of the leaf-wrapped sweet survives in the reputation of the town\u2019s sweet shops and in the name given to it by people from outside the town.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Heera Singh Jeewan Singh, a sweet shop in Almora, tells a different family story. According to the family, Ram Lal, one of its confectioners, worked at a sweet shop elsewhere while returning from a pilgrimage to Badrinath, and brought back to Almora the singori he had encountered there. The family\u2019s account also mentions that singori had already been made in Tehri Garhwal before that.<\/p>\n

Both the memories of the town of Tehri and the pilgrimage story handed down by the Almora family feature people who made, sold and brought home the sweet in their respective places. The year of its creation is not known, but the leaf-wrapped sweet has been handed down as a specialty of more than one place.<\/p>\n

\"Singori<\/p>\n

Singori wrapped in a cone of leaf. The wrapping material creates the product\u2019s shape. Photo: Vinaysharmahbd. Image source<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Glossary<\/h2>\n

Khoa<\/strong>: A concentrated dairy product made by heating milk to reduce its moisture. It is the main ingredient of singori.<\/p>

Malu<\/strong>: The regional name for the aromatic leaf used to wrap singori. Several spellings and botanical names appear in the literature.<\/p>

Tartaric acid<\/strong>: An organic acid used in food. In some methods of making singori, a small amount is added to create a fine graininess.<\/p>

Meri Tehri<\/strong>: A piece of writing recalling the town of Tehri. It records memories of the leaf-wrapped sweet singori and of a well-known shop.<\/p>

Heera Singh Jeewan Singh<\/strong>: A sweet shop in Almora. It relates a history in which a confectioner of the family brought back singori, which he had come to know during a pilgrimage.<\/p>

Ram Lal<\/strong>: The confectioner of the Heera Singh Jeewan Singh family who is said to have brought singori back.<\/p>

Negi<\/strong>: Appears in the \u201cMeri Tehri\u201d memoir as the name of a shop whose singori was well regarded.<\/p>

References<\/h2>\n
  1. \n

    Heera Singh Jeewan Singh, \u201cStory \/ Singori\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Ram Lal\u2019s pilgrimage and his bringing singori back, as handed down in the family; memories of the sweet in Tehri.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  2. \n

    Singh et al., \u201cComparative Studies of Physical Qualities of Singori,\u201d 2016<\/a> \u2014 The manufacturing process studied and the physical properties of the samples. Not a uniform standard for all products in the region.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  3. \n

    Almora District, Cuisines<\/a> \u2014 Introduction to a sweet in Almora made with khoa, malu leaves, cardamom and coconut.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  4. \n

    India Water Portal, Meri Tehri<\/a> \u2014 Recollections of Tehri\u2019s leaf-wrapped sweet and Negi\u2019s shop.<\/p>\n<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Singori (Singori, Singodi) is a sweet from the state of Uttarakhand in which a confection of reduced milk is wrapped in a leaf folded into a cone. It is known as a specialty of the Kumaon region, including Almora, but it also has a long association with Tehri Garhwal to the west. The leaf is a wrapping that holds the milk sweet, gives it its shape and adds aroma. The wrapping is removed before eating.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":7554,"menu_order":257,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_parade_sweetlore_meta":{"en":"Singori\u30fbSingodi","subtitle":"A milk sweet from the Himalayan foothills, wrapped in a cone of leaf","topics":"Reducing milk while leaving a slight graininess\uff0fWrapping in a cone of malu leaf\uff0fMemories of the sweet in the towns of Kumaon","country":"Kumaon, Uttarakhand, India","show_toc":true,"ingredients":["cream","coconut"],"texture":[],"occasion":[],"method":["cooked"],"season":[]},"footnotes":""},"sweetlore_category":[159],"class_list":["post-8486","sweetlore","type-sweetlore","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"sweetlore_related_products":null,"sweetlore_related_faqs":null,"sweetlore_related_voices":null,"sweetlore_related_mode":"auto","sweetlore_related_articles":null},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t