They taste like nothing you’ve eaten before. They look like regular cookies, but there’s this crunch of goodness, the flavour of the food your forefathers ate and a feeling of lightness. Welcome to the world of millet cookies. Everyone’s licking the last crumb off the plate.
While the trend is fairly recent, the seeds were sown long ago by the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) and some enterprising men and women. When you enter the Post Harvest Technology Centre at TNAU, the aroma of buttery, freshly baked cookies envelops you. D. Malathi, professor, Food Science and Nutrition, walks you around the baking plant with three ovens.
Here, barnyard millet (kudhiravaali), little millet (saamai), kodo millet (varagu), foxtail millet (thinai), proso millet (panivaragu), finger millet (ragi), bajra/pearl millet (cumbu) and sorghum are converted into cookies and bread, and retailed in an outlet outside the campus. They make about five kg of biscuits in a single batch. Many who learnt from them are also making cookies now. Some of them have gone commercial too.
“We spent time on R&D before coming out with these products. We tried everything from an infusion of 10 per cent millet flour to 90 per cent refined flour to 100 per cent millet flour. What worked was a 50:50 combination,” says Dr. Malathi. But, what’s the favourite? Sorghum, probably. “It’s the first product we made,” she says. Another lady chips in: “The taste, the crunch…it is unmatched.”
Joule Foods, run by P. Sathiyamoorthi, is another popular brand that sells millet cookies. “We don’t use artificial colour or flavour,” he insists. When he started in 2011, he made five kg of cookies a day. Today, the company manufactures 1 to 1.25 tonnes a day and supplies across Tamil Nadu and Bangalore and has orders from Malaysia and Singapore.
Joule Foods (Ph: 0422-6555312) retails under the Combo Mimix brand and My Mix Navagrains cookies. It combines millet flour with whole wheat, doing away with refined flour.
Finding flavour
Why this sudden interest in millets? “That’s because they are rich in nutrients. The glycaemic index is low. It is a good crop to cultivate because it needs very little water to thrive. Also, millets are not prone to pest attacks. So, farmers benefit too,” says Sathiyamoorthi, a PhD in food technology. Another reason, he says is that technology has made it possible to process millets into an easily acceptable, familiar form. “Even children love the cookies.”
The company is part of the Agri Business Incubator (ABI) of TNAU and an incubatee of PSG STEP. The factory is in Kasthurinaickenpalayam.
H. Poomalai of Coronet Food (Ph: 0422-6503231) is another local manufacturer who retails under the Dhaaniyam brand. Poomalai has been making millet-based foods for 14 years now, but says they have become popular only in the past two to three years. Her company, which has factories in Kalapatti and Vadavalli, is also part of TNAU’s ABI. Coronet Foods makes 500 kg of millet-base products every day.
Poomalai, 45, who has done a diploma in food and nutrition, says she was drawn to millets as she hailed from a family of farmers in the Nilgiris. “We make about 36 products using millets, including ready-to-eat puttu maavu and porridge,” she says. They also train people interested in manufacturing millet cookies.
Anything Delivered, which operates out of the city, also supplies Coronet’s cookies. Darshan Krishnasamy, director (finance), says the “product is a superhit”. “We’ve had 100 per cent success with it. Whoever we’ve spoken to about it has bought it and continues to buy it,” he says. These cookies are priced between Rs. 35 and Rs. 40 a pack.
As for me, I open a pack of kudhiraivali cookies and bite into a golden orb. Taste one to know why millets rock.
Millet magic
Rich in minerals and fibre and aids digestion
Low glycaemic index makes millets suitable for diabetics
TRAINING
To undergo hands-on training in cookie making from TNAU, call 0422-6611268 or 6611340. They charge Rs. 1,000 for a day’s course
