Puffed rice (pori) is one of offerings made to Goddess Saraswathi during the Ayudha Puja.
It has found a place in various Tamil literary works too as an offering made to Gods.
Till a couple of years ago, puffed rice is made only using the conventional methods.
Salem city and Omalur accounted for many units making puffed rice in conventional methods.
Of late, these units have ceased to exist as machines took over the production.
Conventional method of making puffed rice (pori) is slowly becoming a thing of the past, say a cross section of the senior citizens of Ponnapettai, which had many conventional units.
These units used to work overtime during the Ayudha Puja festival days to meet the heavy demand.
One of the main reason for switching over to machines is the scarcity of work force.
These units have to hire people from far away place by paying high wages.
Frying the rice manually in the conventional way, and adding taste to pori is a cumbersome procedure. Another problem is that farmers of Salem, and its neighbouring districts have almost abandoned Bhavani paddy variety, which is widely used in making puffed rice, for the last many years.
At present, this paddy variety is being procured from neighbouring States, which again add to cost.
This has resulted in many conventional pori making units installing machines.
Temporary stalls selling puffed rice have come up in the nook and corner of the district.
Big business houses have made bulk order of puffed rice for distributing to their workforce. One packet of pori is being sold at Rs. 10 at retail shops.
