Aazol's Mahua Laddu is made by tribals in the remote Nandurbar belt using a rare forest flower that's sweet and iron-rich. Foraged by adivasis, the Mahua flower is packed with vitamins, phosphorus and calcium, making the laddu an ideal after-meal dessert or at-work pick-me-up.

Provenance

Endemic to the forests of Maharashtra, Madhuca Longifolia or the Mahua tree has flowers, leaves and seeds that come with a host of culinary and therapeutic benefits. The dried flower's high sugar content makes it a natural sweetener and its cooling property helps with piles and diarrhoea. The minor forest produce has deep cultural roots, featuring in rituals associated with birth, marriage and death. This tree of life is believed to be divine, coming back to form with just a trickle of water, no matter how dry.

About The Seller

Narmada Mata Mahila Bachat Gat was started in a remote village in Nandurbar by 10 enterprising ladies when because of economic poverty the children of the village were found to be suffering from high levels of malnutrition. The irony was that while they did not have the basic income to be able to feed their children well, the local plants, fruits and flowers that grew in the region had tremendous nutritional values and tribals had been using them for sustenance for generations. With the help of experts, these ladies channeled this traditional wisdom to  create nutritional products like the mahua laddu, which is now given to all schoolchildren in the region. The income they source from selling these products and the products itself have both been significant contributors in overcoming nutritional deficiencies amongst the children of the region.