Freeze-dried ice-creams & aam ras are Gujaratis' new travel essentials
Ahmedabad: Nothing says home like the taste of kulfi—even at 30,000 feet over Europe. This summer, Gujaratis are packing more than passports for their trips abroad—they're taking
freeze-dried ice cream
, basundi, and even
aam ras
along for the ride.The trend is taking off—literally and figuratively—as a thriving micro-industry in Gujarat.
With international travel rising every year—be it tourists or parents visiting their kids—and many families adhering to strict vegetarian or Jain diets, freeze-dried Indian ice creams are now emerging as the new must-pack essentials. Industry insiders say that demand for freeze-dried ice cream alone soared to 400–500 kg a day, supplied by over 40 units across the state.
"We handle mostly Jain and Swaminarayan travellers who strictly avoid foreign ice creams fearing they may contain eggs or other non-vegetarian ingredients," said Smita Modi, a travel agent. "Now, we provide freeze-dried ice cream with their travel packs. For a single tour, we send up to 100 kg! It's cost-effective and hassle-free."Harshil Patel, who runs a freeze-dried food facility, said, "In the past three years, ready-to-eat food exploded in popularity. This year, ice cream became a star. We flash-freeze it at -30°C, dry it slowly over 9 hours at 50°C, and end up with a crunchy, wafer-like cube which turns into fresh ice cream when mixed with water or milk and frozen." Patel's unit processes 650 kg of food daily, with about 15% now devoted to frozen desserts. Supermarkets, snack shops, and tour operators are snapping up supplies."People abroad can now enjoy home food without worrying about spoilage. Our biggest clients are travel agents and caterers," says Samir Avadiya, another processor.Viral Modi, who owns a popular food store in Ahmedabad, says it's not just tourists. "Parents come in with home-cooked food to get it dried before sending it to their kids overseas. Ice cream demand spiked, but we also do mango ras, gajar halwa—even handvo!"And it's not just food makers riding the wave. Machinery manufacturers are seeing booming orders too. "There are now more than 40 freeze-drying units in Gujarat—and growing," said Chandrakant Patel, who supplies equipment to the industry. For Gujaratis, wherever they go, the taste of home follows—crispy, cool, and ready to eat.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
34 minutes ago
- Time of India
Widow's act of love, adventure lover's high — first batch ready as Kailash yatra resumes
Ghaziabad: Tara Kshatriya always travelled with her husband. This year, the 66-year-old will undertake the most daunting travel of her life, and alone. Among the first batch of travellers to Kailash Mansarovar, the Gujarat resident decided to undertake the pilgrimage — resuming after a pause of five years as India-China relations went through turbulence — in memory of her husband, who passed away in 2020 during Covid. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now "We went on every yatra together, and Kailash was our shared dream," she said. The couple visited Char Dham, Rameshwaram, Vaishno Devi and eight Jyotirlingams together. Also part of the first batch is a couple from Maharashtra, 61-year-old Deviprasad Chandrakant Ketkar and his wife Pradnya. For Deviprasad, a retired aviation engineer and adventure enthusiast who has biked across Ladakh, the is another high-altitude challenge. Pradnya, however, sees it differently. A devout follower of Shiva, this is the ultimate spiritual journey for her. "It's the ultimate trek. I have been yearning to visit Tibet for the last 15 years and could never put together enough money for an expedition. This pilgrimage gives me a chance to go to the other side and experience adventure in divinity," Deviprasad said. A total 750 travellers are to take the yatra in batches of 50 till Aug 25 via two different routes. Ten batches will proceed via the Sikkim route through Nathu La Pass, and five through Uttarakhand's Lipulekh Pass. On Wednesday, marigolds, bhajans and a video montage of previous yatras welcomed the first batch of 50 pilgrims as they arrived at Kailash Mansarovar Bhavan here, the centre from where the yatra officially begins for Indian pilgrims. After completing visa paperwork and medical tests over the next four days, one group of travellers will leave for Gangtok on June 15, by air from T3 at IGI Airport. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now After a journey of 10 days via Nathu La Pass, they will reach Kailash Mansarovar base Darchen, following which they will embark on a 12 km trek via Yamdwar, and a 19 km circumambulating trek via Dolma La Pass. On Day 12, they will be taken via bus to Mansarovar lake, 80 km from their halting place at Darchen, the base of Mount Kailash. On Day 13, the group will start its return journey. Pilgrims who are to take the Uttarakhand route will depart for Tanakpur by bus later this month. Over the next week, they will ascend through the Himalayas, reaching Taklakot in Tibet via the high-altitude Lipulekh pass on Day 7. By Day 9, they arrive at Darchen and begin the circumambulation from Yamdwar on Day 10. On Day 12, pilgrims visit Mansarovar Lake at Qugu. The descent to Taklakot begins on Day 14. Rajindra Kumar Gupta (68) and his wife Rani (63), who finally began their Kailash yatra, boarding an overnight train from Chitrakoot to reach Ghaziabad, said they have waited to undertake the journey for a decade. "Since 2020, we have been getting anxious as we are getting older. Now, it feels like I can finally tick it off my bucket list," Rajindra said. Among the youngest pilgrims is 21-year-old gemologist Utkarsh Bhujia from Lucknow, accompanying his mother Megha. "My father did the yatra in 2017, and ever since, it's been a dream," Utkarsh said. "When I asked my son to come with me, he agreed instantly," Megha added. A 66-year-old astrologer from Jamnagar said he spent years saving for the pilgrimage. "The energy at Kailash is transformative," he said. "I believe it gives you a new life." The Kailash Mansarovar Bhawan, which was completed in 2020, is being used for the first time to provide accommodation to pilgrims as the complete formalities before the yatra. "Before this, Delhi govt would rent Gujarat Bhawan for pilgrims," said Uday Kaushik of Kailash Mansarovar Nishkam Seva Samiti, a voluntary organisation that is helping with arrangements at the Indirapuram facility.
Time of India
37 minutes ago
- Time of India
$1 billion boarding pass? Adani Airport may raise equity from international investors as it charts expansion route
Mumbai: Adani Airport Holdings Ltd (AAHL) may raise around $1 billion in equity from international investors as it evaluates future growth plans and potential acquisitions, according to Adani Group CFO Jugeshinder Singh. This would be the first time the airport business is raising equity capital from an external investor. "Everyone wants to do airports with us - investors from the US, Middle East and Australia have evinced interest in investing in the business," said Sagar Adani, nephew of group chairman Gautam Adani. Sagar Adani is also executive director, Adani Green Energy. The airport unit, fully owned by Adani Enterprises Ltd, is valued at around $20 billion, according to sources, higher than GMR Airport 's market capitalisation of $10.4 billion. GMR runs airports in New Delhi, Hyderabad, Goa and Nagpur among others. As per the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, India recorded a 10.35% annual growth in domestic air passenger traffic in FY25. Riding expansion wave Airlines carried a total of 14.54 million passengers. CareEdge Ratings projects air passenger traffic in India to rise at a 9% compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) between FY25 and FY27, taking the volume to 485 million. With airports in Mumbai-Navi Mumbai and other key locations, AAHL aims to ride on this expansion to triple capacity over the next decade and a half. AAHL, India's largest private airport operator, runs seven of them currently — Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mangaluru, Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram — and is putting the finishing touches to the one at Navi Mumbai that's set to open in August. The company is currently fully funded but may look to bring in additional capital depending on timing and market conditions. 'We also have not decided whether we want to do it or not yet. So what we are thinking about is — is it a good idea for us to do it right now or should we wait two-three years once the build-out happens and the value is established,' said Adani CFO Singh. GMR Group had secured a ₹6,300 crore investment from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) to reduce debt at its promoter entity GMR Enterprises (GEPL) in January. 'We are open to acquisitions in India and internationally,' Singh said. 'For international deals, it will have to be an international city pair which caters to an Indian diaspora. If there's a lot of Indian passengers going to a specific airport in some other city in the world, and if that opportunity comes up, we will look at that.' The airport business will be hived off as a separate subsidiary in the next two-three years, followed by listing. AAHL served 94 million passengers in FY25, up 7% from FY24.
The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
Increase in anti-dumping duty by U.S. on Indian shrimp a cause for concern
Andhra Pradesh has requested the Government of India (GoI) to solve the problem caused by an increase in anti-dumping duty imposed by the U.S. on Indian shrimps from 1.35% to 3.96% with retrospective effect from 2023-24, which entails a burden of ₹600 crore on seafood exporters from the State. Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, AP Legislative Assembly Deputy Speaker and State Aquaculture Advisory Committee (SAAC) member K. Raghu Ramakrishna Raju and AP State Aquaculture Development Authority (APSADA) Co-Vice-Chairman Anam Venkata Ramana Reddy said Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu requested the Union Ministers of Finance, and Industry & Commerce to resolve the issues faced by seafood exporters in India by diplomatically engaging with the shrimp importing countries, particularly the U.S. He insisted on inclusion of harmonised system codes of Indian shrimp under the exemption list in order to protect the livelihood of lakhs of farmers and workers, and prevent the collapse of the sector that significantly contributed to the Gross State Domestic Product. SAAC recommendations They said the SAAC studied the issues that cropped up after the U.S. imposed the reciprocal tariffs on seafood exports from India, and came up with short, medium and long-term strategies for sustainability of the sector. The short-term measures included a reduction in the input costs such as lowering the power tariffs, waiver of import duties on brood-stock and feed to ease production pressure, waiver of 5% GST on packaged shrimp to unlock local consumption, stabilising farm gate prices, securing access to the European Union (EU) and small markets, enhancing export compliance by ensuring strict implementation of traceability for the sake of reducing export rejections, and leveraging re-export potential by activating fish re-export hubs and streamlining the port clearances. Mr. Ramakrishna Raju said the medium-term strategies recommended were to enforce 100% registration of farms, tackle trade barriers, promote cluster farm management, and expand product lines by incentivising ready-to-eat / cook shrimp for premium global markets. The long-term strategies included achieving brood-stock sufficiency, species and market diversification, and strengthening bio-security institutional reforms quality compliance. Mr. Venkata Ramana Reddy said the department had completed geo-tagging of all the existing 2.07 lakh aquaculture ponds and 3,800 aquaculture business units in the State and assigned 11-digit unique codes. A traceability app intended to create a digital platform with a central dashboard, real-time monitoring and analytics was in the process of development. APIIC Chairman M. Rama Raju was among others present.
