The halwa was first made by Dangeti Dharma Rao in 1890
The Madugula halwa being made by workers. (Photo: DC)
Visakhapatnam: Madugula, a non-descript village 70 km from Vizag, over a century has become a household name in the three districts of north Andhra and many other parts of the state due to its sweet dish famously called Madugula Halwa.
The halwa was first made by Dangeti Dharma Rao in 1890. Now the fourth generation of his family is continuing to make the sweet which has a unique recipe consisting of wheat milk. The sweet is made of wheat milk, sugar, dry fruits and loads of ghee.
Madugula Halwa is a must for everyone. Over a 100 years ago, Dharma Rao was experimenting with various sweet recipes that can be stocked up for a month and came out with the idea of halwa which later on down the lane has become famous as Madugula halwa.
It takes four days to make this halwa and lasts for a month. Orders by Telugu NRIs are a regular affair. “There are so many wheat related halwa varieties outside, but our sweet is entirely different. We take pride in continuing the legacy of my grandfather who first introduced this halwa. Whoever comes to this part of the district, they will not miss to taste the sweet and take back halwa to home,” Dangeti Murthy, told this newspaper.
Wheat is be soaked for 3 days and then it is grinded to make it into wheat milk. The wheat milk is then boiled in sugar syrup and cashew and almonds are added to it later.
“I have been eating this Madugula halwa from the same shop since my childhood and there is no change in the taste. I have tried eating the same halwa made by some others but doesn’t carry the same taste. We are also very happy that our tiny village has become very popular with this halwa. Thanks to Dangetis," K Narayana Rao, an old timer of the village, told this newspaper.
Halwa goes online:
While the fourth generation of the Dangeti family is still continuing the tradition of making Madugula halwa, many sweet shops in Vizag also started making the halwa. Some started cashing on the Madugula halwa by selling it online.
"There are so many online stores that offer to sell Madugula halwa but none of them source it from us. As of now we are taking orders over phone. But we also have plans to expand our market by doing some branding around it with new kind of packaging etc. We are also planning to apply for trademark and patent to check duplicates. We want to continue my great grand father’s legacy of spreading some sweet thing to public," Mohan Rao of Dangetis fourth generation who is now taking care of the sweet making business in Madugula, told this newspaper.
( Source : dc )
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