Diwali & Gifting

Dhanteras falls on Friday 6 November this year and Diwali on Sunday the 8th. That is the one fortnight when half of India buys dried fruit, and mewaa is the word in our name, so this is the shelf we have the most business writing.

Read the grade, not the packet

Cashew is sold by grade and almost nobody looks. The code on a decent packet is a letter and a number: W for white whole kernels, then the count per pound. W180 is the largest and rarest, W240 is what a good gift box should be, W320 is the everyday grade that most “premium” hampers quietly use, and anything labelled LWP, SW or pieces is broken kernel sold at whole-kernel prices.

The practical test: W240 runs about 240 nuts to 450 g, so a half-kilo pack with noticeably more than 270 nuts in it is not the grade on the label. Vengurla and the Ratnagiri belt grow some of the better cashew in the country, and a packet that names its district is usually worth more than one that says “premium” in gold type.

Dhanteras is a metal day

The custom on Dhanteras is buying metal — traditionally silver or gold, in practice very often steel and copper for the kitchen. That is why the utensil shops are full on the 6th and why a steel or copper piece lands better as a Dhanteras gift than anything edible. Keep the dried fruit for Diwali itself, two days later.

What we would not give

Anything perishable posted more than two days out, which is most mithai sent by courier. Dry fruit sold loose by weight at a festival stall, where the turnover is high and so is the chance of last year's stock. And a gift that needs the person to buy something else before they can use it.

Mango is out of season until March, so there is no Alphonso to give in November. Tinned Ratnagiri pulp is the honest stand-in and it lives on the pantry shelf. If you want the real fruit, the boxes open again in March.

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