Ganapathy’s Butter & Ghee is a name to reckon with for many households in Mylapore, RA Puram, Santhome, Adyar and Alwarpet. One of the oldest shops in Mylapore, it is currently celebrating its 75th year.
Started in 1942 by S Ganapathy Pillai, a small-time trader from Nagapattinam, the shop, then called Ganapathy & Co, sold only butter and ghee sourced from Uthukuli, in Tiruppur district.
Chennai, 30/10/2017 : The ganapathy stores which sells butter, ghee and other household condiments in Mylapore. Photo : S. R. Raghunathan
“Those days, there were only a few shops in South Mada street including ours. There used to be Kapaleeswarar Stores and Karpagambal Stores (both vessel merchants). The owner of Hotel Saravana Bhavan, P Rajagopal, used to work in one of these shops when he was a teenager. Then there used to be an Udipi hotel, Ambika Brothers Bookshop, Ethirajulu Naidu Provision Merchants and Chennakesava Chettiar Provisions store. The vegetable vendors set shop only in the 80s. From our shop, we could see the temple tank and the Kapali temple gopuram,” says G Sankaran, son of the founder of the store.
Sankaran, a student of PS Higher Secondary School, completed his PUC, and joined his father in his business; he learnt the trade just by observing his father. “My father had 40 cows and buffaloes in his house in Adams Street, Mylapore. Apart from selling butter and ghee from our shop, we also used to sell milk and curd from our home,” reminisces Sankaran, adding, “The demand for curd was so high that my father even brought it from Uthukuli. Those days, satti vennai was sought after.”
Changing times
When Pillai passed away in 1973, Sankaran took charge and brought in more products to the shop. He also changed the name of the shop in 1975 to Ganapathy’s Butter & Ghee and started stocking appalam, podi, vadam and pickle sourced locally in the neighbourhood.
Among the pickle varieties (over 50), the special avaka and vadu maanga are most popular. Since inception, the shop has been selling two types of butter and ghee — cooking butter/ghee from buffalo milk and cow’s milk butter and ghee.
“Right from my grandfather’s days, we have been making ghee from butter, following traditional processes in our homes. Our process takes three to four hours, giving it a good aroma and flavour,” says S Saravanan.
- According to Ayurveda, cow ghee is loaded with essential nutrients, fatty acids and is antibacterial, anti-fungal; has antioxidants and antiviral properties.
His brother S Balaji, who was working for Citibank until recently, has quit to join his father and brother in the business.
Says Balaji, “Those days, the measurements were in veesai (1400 grams) and palam (35 grams); 40 palams make one veesai . My grandfather sold one veesai of butter for ₹5.50 in 1960 and ghee for ₹7.50. Butter was wrapped in banana leaf, and people used to bring their own vessels to buy ghee. We are planning to bring in traditional measurements and weighing scales, store all items in huge glass jars and also pack butter in banana leaf to create an ambience of nostalgia and introduce it to the current generation.”
Focus on health
There is a range of appalams, vadams, podis (check out their amla and bitter gourd podi) and pickles here, and they say all the products are without preservatives or artificial colouring. “We have started sourcing vaagai mara chekku oil (wooden cold pressed) from our native town. We have shifted our focus to health food, and therefore millet-based ready-to-make tiffin items such as navadhanya adai mix, thinai kichidi and kanji mavu are also available,” says Saravanan.
Apart from the traditional sweets of Tamil Nadu, such as adhirasam, somas, kamarkat and thaen mittai, the brothers are taking efforts to bring in regional specialities (sweets and savories) as well — Kovilpatti kadalai mittai, Srivilliputhur palgova, Tirunelveli halwa (from Iruttu Kadai), Thoothukudi achu murukku. They source palm jaggery and palm sugar from Udangudi, veppilakatti from Palakkad and honey from Marthandam.
Customers across Chennai can currently place orders over the phone, and have their products delivered to their homes.
