{"id":8503,"date":"2026-10-26T18:39:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T09:39:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/?post_type=sweetlore&p=8503"},"modified":"2026-10-31T18:50:55","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T09:50:55","slug":"laddu","status":"publish","type":"sweetlore","link":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/en\/sweetlore\/laddu\/","title":{"rendered":"Laddu"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Laddu (also spelled Laddoo) is a general name for round sweets made widely across South Asia. There is no single main ingredient: chickpea flour, wheat flour, semolina, coconut, sesame and others are all used. What many kinds have in common is that the ingredients are combined with sugar, jaggery, ghee or similar and shaped into balls by hand. Texture and method also differ depending on whether the inside of the ball is roasted flour or small fried grains.<\/p>\n

\n\"Orange\n
Laddu showing clustered grains and surface decoration (November 8, 2022). Even among balls of the same shape, the way the dough or grains hold together affects the texture. Photo: Gaurav Dhwaj Khadka \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. Downsized version obtained from Commons. No alteration of content and no cropping.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Different Balls from the Same Bean Flour<\/h2>\n

For besan laddu, besan, a flour made from chickpeas, is roasted slowly in ghee. Once the raw taste of the flour is gone and its aroma has developed, it is cooled slightly, mixed with sugar and cardamom, and shaped by hand. Rather than gathering small cooked grains, this method forms a mass based mainly on roasted flour. The coarseness of the flour also affects the mouthfeel; one example by chef Sanjeev Kapoor uses coarsely ground besan.<\/p>\n

Motichoor laddu, by contrast, begins by making boondi from the same bean flour. The flour is mixed with water into a pourable batter, which is poured onto a perforated spoon so that fine droplets fall into the oil below. The fried grains are put into sugar syrup and left to absorb it, and then many grains are gathered together into a ball. Roasting flour and pressing it together, versus dividing a batter into droplets, frying them and binding them with syrup: what is made along the way is completely different.<\/p>\n

The name motichoor evokes fine pearls and is tied to its appearance as a cluster of tiny grains. Looking closely at the surface, you can see the boundaries between the grains rather than a single smooth skin. The cluster of syrup-soaked grains gives it a moist, crumbly texture. The difference is not simply one of size; the very process of making the grains leads to the difference in texture.<\/p>\n

What Holds It Together<\/h2>\n

The sweetener in laddu is not limited to white sugar. Some use jaggery, a less refined sugar, and there are versions that combine it with sesame and others that combine it with ground grains or pulses. Ghee, a fat obtained from milk by removing the water and milk solids, serves as the medium for roasting the flour and also as an ingredient that binds the balls. Not all of these sweets are cooked and set in syrup; the name also covers those mixed with powdered sugar and rolled into balls.<\/p>\n

Sugar is handled differently in kinds where it is mixed in afterward, such as besan laddu, and in kinds made with grains soaked in syrup, such as boondi. In versions made with coconut, the flavor of the coconut itself, rather than the roasted aroma of bean flour, comes to the fore. Many sweets that share the round shape but differ in main ingredient and in how they are held together go by this name.<\/p>\n

Sesame, Wheat and Rice: How Each Region Binds Them<\/h2>\n

In Maharashtra, the tilgul exchanged at Makar Sankranti includes laddu made of sesame bound with jaggery. It is given to family and friends with the greeting, \u201cAccept this sweet and speak sweet words.\u201d Unlike a mass of roasted flour, it is a sweet in which sugar links small seeds together. At a festival celebrating the winter harvest, the combination of ingredients itself serves to convey closeness.<\/p>\n

For Rajasthan\u2019s churma laddu, wheat flour is first made into a dough, cooked, and then crumbled again. In a recipe (the ingredient proportions and method) by chef Sanjyot Keer, a firm dough mixed with ghee is shaped into logs, fried over low heat, cooled and coarsely crumbled, then bound with melted jaggery and ghee. This differs both from the besan laddu method of roasting flour directly and from the motichoor method of frying small droplets: a cooked dough is crumbled and then gathered into balls.<\/p>\n

For chuda kadamba in Odisha, one method is to grind chuda, a pressed rice, into a powder, mix it with sugar, grated coconut and ghee, and add warm milk little by little to form balls. Cooking sugar until hard is not the only way to bind the ingredients. In this method, moisture is added to the grain powder to make it possible to shape. It also differs from balls made directly from raw rice flour, since it uses rice that has already been processed.<\/p>\n

Coconut-based versions also vary. A recipe from a present-day dairy manufacturer heats sweetened condensed milk and fresh grated coconut in a pan until the mixture thickens and pulls away from the sides, then cools it and rolls it into balls. Here, instead of frying flour, a mixture of milk and coconut is cooked down. The same round shape comes from different processes: binding seeds, crumbling cooked wheat dough, moistening rice powder, or reducing milk.<\/p>\n

\n\"A\n
Preparations for a wedding in Fatehgarh Panjgraian village, Sangrur, Punjab (February 1, 2021). Many yellow laddus are lined up on the work table. Photo: Satdeep Gill \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. Downsized version obtained from Commons. No alteration of content and no cropping.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Household Celebrations and Temple Offerings<\/h2>\n

Laddu is used for celebratory gifts and religious occasions. It is also known as prasada, food offered to a deity at a temple and then given to devotees, and the laddu of the temple at Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh in particular is closely tied to its place. This sweet, made with bean flour, ghee, sugar, cashew nuts and other ingredients, also has its own geographical indication, \u201cTirupathi Laddu.\u201d<\/p>\n

Production at the Tirupati temple is supported by a kitchen called the potu. The temple\u2019s 2016 account describes how, while equipment for frying large quantities of boondi is used, handwork in making the sweet also continues. Proportions and quantities are managed under an arrangement called the dittam, and the moisture of the product and the ingredients are also checked. Preparing the offerings that pilgrims take home fulfills a religious role and is also the manufacturing work of providing the same sweet to many people.<\/p>\n

Laddu also appears in the meals of households welcoming a birth. Food customs have been recorded of preparing laddu for mothers after childbirth, such as versions made with gond, an edible gum, or with ginger. Beyond offerings shared at temples, laddu also serves as food that families make for their own members.<\/p>\n

\n\"Several\n
A table with laddus of various colors and surfaces separated by bowl (January 13, 2024). From pale ones to dark brown ones, the surface grains and colors differ. Photo: Shraddhasinghuikey \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. Downsized version obtained from Commons. No alteration of content and no cropping.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Differences in flavor from family to family also remain in the memories of those who make laddu. Spice merchant Meta Bharats recalls that their grandmother made them laddu filled with plenty of nuts. In the method that carries on that flavor, almonds, cashew nuts and pine nuts are roasted and combined with besan roasted in ghee. After the mixture has cooled slightly, unrefined sugar along with turmeric, nutmeg, cardamom and saffron is mixed in, and it is rolled into balls. It is a home flavor in which nuts and several spices are layered over the aroma of roasted flour.<\/p>\n

There are also examples of laddu being fed to guests when welcoming them and seeing them off. The travel writer to-mo writes that in 2018, on visiting the home of a friend\u2019s older sister in Jalgaon, to-mo had a red tika mark applied to the forehead at the entrance and was fed homemade laddu by hand. On the morning the two-day stay ended, the family again prepared laddu and saw the writer off. In this household, the sweet conveyed a welcome and wishes for a safe journey.<\/p>\n

Classical Laddu Was Not a Single Bean-Flour Sweet<\/h2>\n

The 11th-century Kannada encyclopedia Lokopakara covers the preparation of sweets such as laddu alongside everyday cooking. This shows that laddu, as a named sweet, was included in a practical text of medieval South India.<\/p>\n

Several kinds of laddu also appear in the Nimatnama, a cookbook from the Mandu court of the late 15th to early 16th century. Norah M. Titley\u2019s English translation describes one made from a grain-flour dough fried in ghee, soaked in syrup and scented with rose, and another made with mung beans. There are also examples that layer the scents of camphor and musk over almonds and coconut, cardamom and cloves; both the ingredients and the processes are broader than today\u2019s image of laddu as only bean flour, ghee and sugar.<\/p>\n

The court sweets scented with rose and musk and the sesame balls exchanged at festivals today share a name but differ in both their ingredients and the occasions on which they are eaten. The range of recombining grains, pulses, fats, sugars and aromas is evident in old cookbooks as well.<\/p>\n

The name laddu is linked to the Sanskrit la\u1e0d\u1e0du and la\u1e0d\u1e0duka. A Sanskrit-English dictionary records these as names of a sweet confection made from coarse flour of pulses or grains, sugar, spices, and ghee or oil. Just as there is still a range of main ingredients and binding methods today, the word does not refer to only one specific formula.<\/p>\n

Glossary<\/h2>\n

Tika<\/strong>: A mark applied to the forehead. In the household introduced here, it is applied when welcoming guests.<\/p>

Potu<\/strong>: The name of the kitchen at the Tirupati temple where offerings are prepared.<\/p>

Dittam<\/strong>: An arrangement that sets the proportions, quantities and other details of the temple\u2019s offerings.<\/p>

Besan<\/strong>: Flour made by grinding chickpeas. It is used both roasted and mixed with water and fried.<\/p>

Ghee<\/strong>: Milk fat from which the water and milk solids have been removed.<\/p>

Sanjeev Kapoor<\/strong>: An Indian chef. His published recipes include besan laddu made with coarsely ground bean flour.<\/p>

Boondi<\/strong>: Small grains made by frying droplets of a pourable bean-flour batter.<\/p>

Motichoor<\/strong>: A name used for a kind of laddu in which fine grains are bound together with sugar syrup.<\/p>

Jaggery<\/strong>: A less refined sugar made from sugarcane, palm or other sources.<\/p>

Prasada<\/strong>: Food that is offered to a deity and then shared among people.<\/p>

Tirupati<\/strong>: A pilgrimage site in South India, known for its temple laddu.<\/p>

La\u1e0d\u1e0du \/ la\u1e0d\u1e0duka<\/strong>: Sanskrit words recorded as names of sweet confections made from bean or grain flour, sugar and other ingredients.<\/p>

Tilgul<\/strong>: A celebratory Maharashtrian sweet combining sesame and jaggery. Besides round laddu, there are also other forms, such as flat pieces.<\/p>

Makar Sankranti<\/strong>: A festival around January celebrating a turning point of the solar calendar and the harvest.<\/p>

Churma<\/strong>: A preparation in which cooked wheat dough or similar is crumbled and combined with sugar and ghee. Some versions are rolled into balls.<\/p>

Sanjyot Keer<\/strong>: An Indian chef. The churma in this article is one example from a recipe the chef has published.<\/p>

Chuda kadamba<\/strong>: A sweet from Odisha in which powdered chuda, coconut and other ingredients are formed into balls.<\/p>

Chuda<\/strong>: A product made from pressed rice.<\/p>

Gond<\/strong>: A name for an edible plant-derived resin or gum.<\/p>

Lokopakara<\/strong>: An 11th-century encyclopedic practical text in Kannada. It also covers cooking and sweets.<\/p>

Nimatnama<\/strong>: A book compiled at the court of the sultans of Mandu in the late 15th to early 16th century, collecting methods for preparing dishes, drinks and more.<\/p>

Norah M. Titley<\/strong>: A scholar of Persian manuscripts. Translated the Nimatnama into English.<\/p>

Camphor \/ musk<\/strong>: Aromatic materials. In this article, they are mentioned as historical aromatics recorded in a court cookbook.<\/p>

Meta Bharats<\/strong>: Head of Anan, a spice merchant in Kamakura. Introduces the laddu passed down from their grandmother through a conversation and a demonstration.<\/p>

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

    to-mo, \u201cNamida no Laddu\u201d [Tears of Laddu] (published August 1, 2024; a travelogue from 2018)<\/a>: Lines 11\u201318, 29\u201334 and 44. Confirmed that the visit took place in 2018, not in the publication year of 2024. Describes the welcome and send-off by a single family; not a custom of all households in India.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  2. \n

    Anan Spice, \u201cPOMPON CAKES \u00d7 Meta Bharats, Episode 2: Learning About Laddu\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The grandmother\u2019s memories, ingredients and all steps were read in full. Used as an individual formula handed down within a family. Not used for a general definition of ghee or for generalizations about hospitality customs across India.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  3. \n

    Sanjeev Kapoor, \u201cMotichoor Laddoo\u201d<\/a> \u2014 An example of frying a pourable bean-flour batter through a perforated ladle, soaking it in syrup and rolling it into balls.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  4. \n

    Sanjeev Kapoor Khazana, \u201cBesan Laddoo\u201d<\/a> \u2014 An example of roasting coarsely ground bean flour in ghee, cooling it, adding sugar and rolling it into balls. The ingredients and steps in the video description were read; the full video was not watched.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  5. \n

    Maharashtra Tourism, \u201cMakar Sankranti\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Sweets of sesame and jaggery, and their exchange with a greeting at the festival.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  6. \n

    Rajasthan Foundation, \u201cCuisine of Rajasthan\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Churma laddu as a dish of Rajasthan.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  7. \n

    Sanjyot Keer, \u201cChurma Laddoo,\u201d NDTV Food<\/a> \u2014 An individual method of frying wheat dough, crumbling it and binding it into balls with jaggery and ghee.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  8. \n

    Lipi Das, Traditional Rice Foods, ICAR-CRRI, 2015, p. 16<\/a> \u2014 Chuda kadamba of Odisha, and shaping by gradually adding milk to processed rice powder.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  9. \n

    Nestl\u00e9 Professional India, \u201cCoconut Laddoo\u201d<\/a> \u2014 One company\u2019s example of heating sweetened condensed milk and coconut and rolling the mixture into balls.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  10. \n

    Intellectual Property India, \u201cGI Application Details No. 121\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The registered name and registration status of Tirupathi Laddu.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  11. \n

    Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, \u201cDivine Fragrance of Tirupati Laddu,\u201d 2016<\/a> \u2014 Description of the temple kitchen, frying equipment and handwork, and control of proportions and quality.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  12. \n

    Deshmukh and Ghotankar, \u201cAdditional components to the Nutritional experiences of postpartum mothers,\u201d 2024<\/a> \u2014 Mentions laddu made with gond or ginger as home food after childbirth. This is a letter, not a demonstration of health effects.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  13. \n

    Classical Kannada knowledgebase, \u201cLokopakara\u201d<\/a> \u2014 An overview noting laddu preparation in the cooking chapter of the 11th-century practical text. Not a direct reading of the original text.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  14. \n

    Norah M. Titley (trans.), The Nimatnama Manuscript of the Sultans of Mandu, 2005, p. 7<\/a> \u2014 Ingredients and processes of several kinds of laddu in the court cookbook. The relevant page of the English translation in the publisher\u2019s public preview was read; the original Persian manuscript was not consulted.<\/p>\n<\/li>

  15. \n

    Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary, \u201cla\u1e0d\u1e0du \/ la\u1e0d\u1e0duka\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Dictionary entry for a sweet confection made with flour of pulses or grains, sugar, spices and fat.<\/p>\n<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Laddu (also spelled Laddoo) is a general name for round sweets made widely across South Asia. There is no single main ingredient: chickpea flour, wheat flour, semolina, coconut, sesame and others are all used. What many types have in common is that the ingredients are combined with sugar, jaggery, ghee or similar and shaped into balls by hand. Texture and method also differ depending on whether the inside of the ball is roasted flour or small fried grains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":7588,"menu_order":274,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_parade_sweetlore_meta":{"en":"Laddu\u30fbLaddoo","subtitle":"Different Balls from the Same Bean Flour","topics":"Shaping bean flour and grains into balls\uff0fThe roles of sugar and ghee\uff0fHousehold celebrations and temple offerings","country":"Various regions of India","show_toc":true,"ingredients":[],"texture":[],"occasion":[],"method":["cooked"],"season":[]},"footnotes":""},"sweetlore_category":[159],"class_list":["post-8503","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