Monday, January 27, 2014

PANCHA-TANTRA AND THE GHEE BUSINESS

THE GHEE BUSINESS
long long back, a close friend, who inherited a sweet shop, wanted to expand his business in a fiercely competitive market .

 I suggested to him, make everything with ghee flavour, all fried sweets, all namkins like nimki, singada, kochuri , dal puri , vege chops etc.. 

He was very excited..so I being in R & D, I had the whole lab and the chemists at my disposal.. I synthesized the ghee smell chemical (Butaraldehyde) , and used to make just 20 to 50 grams per week, enough for 16 to 32 kg Dalda tin, which he used ...But I had told him to put up big sign-board " MADE WITH GHEE FLAVOUR" and to increase the price by 10-20% only for distinct marketing reasons. 

The business sky rocketed in 2 months .. He used to come every Saturday , take 20 to 50 gms of the chemical, which increased to 100 gms per week (all free for a friend, and the cost was negligible ) , that was an indication of his prosperity in business.

But after 6 months, I was passing by the shop and the FLAVOUR word was deleted from the signboard and read as “MADE WITH GHEE“price almost 1.5  to 2 times higher ...

Yes that was the end of a great friendship ..And downfall of a great business.

WISDOM 
I feel sad, where did I go wrong, that I lost a great friend. Yes I flouted a wisdom from PANCHATANTRA....( Swa yadi kria-te Rajah, kim sah na asnati upanaham? if you make a dog a king, will he give up chewing shoes ? Never ..never )  ..I did not know this friend was a dog ...

TECHNICAL EXPLANATION-
Why ghee made in eastern India has a strong aroma?..Simple, make ghee for prolonged hours with bit of non-fat material  ( milk protein and milk sugar , the black to dark brown solid that settles and we devour that too) and you get that strong aroma of butaraldehye ..And remember higher the aroma, faster it become rancid as  Butyric acid is formed.

 Thinking of putting up a small lab in my kitchen , make the chemical ( few $ to set up) , and sell it to fund my old monk, travel, and also my food 

1 comment:

  1. now i'm a bit confused if this is a friction or a real story. so well penned..but end of the day what interests me the technical details of Ghee,wow!i'm curious about transformation of aldehyde to acids?also what would be the side effects of using the synthesised flavours? …yes please do start the experiment, science in the kitchen can bring a of dollars…these days they sell smoked flavour for smoked salmon…i find it bit ridiculous as there is a compromise in taste, but as a researcher it excites me for exploring unimaginable horizons!

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