Ingredients

The word “sweet” encompasses a wide range of dishes, shown in the table below. After sugar, the most common ingredient is cow or buffalo milk. Milk has been an integral part of the Indian diet from ancient times. Cows have traditionally held a special place in Indian society, revered as the “eternal mother” for their usefulness as a source of labor and nourishment (excluding meat). Buffalo milk (from bos bubalus, a native species) has double the fat content of cow milk and is preferred by some sweet aficionados. See milk.