Tree nuts have been consumed for thousands of years, providing a concentrated source of energy, nutrients, and bioactive compounds, including unsaturated fatty acids. Tree nuts generally are good with excellent sources of protein, dietary fiber, vitamins E and K, folate, magnesium, copper, and potassium and are rich in phytosterols and phenolic compounds.
An eclectic mix of dried fruits and nuts and their consumption in India date as far back in the prehistoric times of Hindu wisdom captured in the Charaka Samhita, an ancient Indian Sanskrit text on Ayurveda (Indian traditional medicine). In Ayurveda, the following description appears: “Shuska Phal VA Tilahan (Dried Fruits and Oil Seeds): almond, cashew nut, chestnut, coconut, groundnut, peanut, pistachio, etc… are very rich in proteins.
The oils inside these provide natural lubricants and fats necessary for the body’s mechanical and other functions. Subsequently, nuts and dried fruits were made more popular by the Mughals of medieval India to demonstrate their rich heritage. Hence, nuts and dried fruits in India have traditionally stood for prestige, richness, and exclusivity – the privilege of a select few. But now we see these traditional ideas infusing with modernity to create an exciting space for this popular symbol of Indian heritage.
Even until a few decades ago, the use of nuts and dried fruits were restricted to special occasions, where their primary uses would be as a food “enricher”– adding richness to the taste as well as nutritional value. But now the scenario has changed, dried fruits and nuts have become part of celebratory food items such as mithai and namkeen, in spicy Indian gravies “enriched” with cashew paste or pulao (Indian pilaf) containing roasted almonds, cashews, and raisins or kheer, and payasam (different kinds of Indian dessert) garnished with various dried fruits and nuts.
While the custom of using dried fruits and nuts as a “food enricher” continues, the same category has also made inroads into another meal occasion, as a natural consequence to some of the larger movements taking place in the country.
Current standing
The Global Dried Fruits Market is estimated to exhibit a CAGR of 4.41% to surpass USD 9,081.70 Million by the forecast period. Dried fruits are made by removing the water content of the fruits. Dried fruit products are rich in calories, high concentration of nutrients such as fiber, vitamins, antioxidants, and calories and hence need to be consumed in small portions. The applications of dried fruits in various sectors such as sweet and savory snacks, bakery and confectionery, dairy and frozen desserts, beverages, and breakfast cereals are expected to drive the global market growth during the study period.
The global edible nuts market is projected to reach around $ 339,405.7 million by the end of 2027, in terms of revenue, growing at a CAGR of 5.8% during the forecast period (2020-2027). Edible nuts are widely consumed around the globe and are rich in various essential nutrients such as minerals, fiber, potassium, and calcium. Edible nuts are also rich in other vitamins such as vitamin K, vitamin A, and iron. peanuts, almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios, cashew nuts, and walnuts are some of the edible nuts.
Increasing adoption of a healthy lifestyle among consumers has increased the consumption of edible nuts. Moreover, consumers have become more conscious about their intake and diet due to which there has been a significant rise in the consumption of nuts such as walnuts, almonds, pistachios, hazelnuts, and cashew nuts. Thus, the rising adoption of a healthy lifestyle is primarily fueling the market growth of edible nuts.
On the basis of region, the Asia-Pacific region, especially India dominated the global dry fruits and edible nuts market in 2019 with a 63.1 % of market share in terms of value, followed by Middle East & Africa and North America respectively.
In India, the nuts and dry fruit market is expected to grow to INR 30,000 crores (~ USD 4 billion) this financial year. While the consumption of nuts and dried fruits may be much more widespread today, the medieval values of heritage and exclusivity continue to rest with this premium category. Other than spices, they are the only other category that reflects the quintessential exoticism of ancient India.
Ensemble of edible nuts and dry fruits in the mithai and namkeen industry-
Dried fruits and edible nuts like almonds, pistachios, raisins, walnuts, cashews, dates, etc. also have a wide array of usages in the world of gastronomy – one of those being included in the sweet delicacies. These ingredients make the perfect throw-in almost every dessert recipe. They not only add crunch, texture, and flavour to the dish, but also, make the latter nutrient-rich instantly.
Nuts and dried fruits make excellent snacks and additives for many reasons. For one, they have a very interesting nutritional profile. They contain many nutrients, including fiber, unsaturated fats, vegetable protein, vitamins, and minerals which may help reduce overall hunger which in turn may stop you from reaching for unhealthy sugary snacks.
Not only this, but each different nuts and dried fruit may provide you with distinctive health benefits. For instance, a study showed that almonds may help decrease LDL ‘bad’ cholesterol and lower blood sugar levels in just eight weeks. Also, eating pistachios gives nutrients such as vitamins B1 and B6, copper, and potassium. Now, there are some reasons to add them into our mouths and namkeen! As well as providing a delicious handful of essential nutrients, nuts, and dried fruits can be enjoyed as a sweet or savory snack perfect for whatever your taste buds fancy. Plus, however you fancy them, they are easy to take with you when you are on the go making sure you’ve always got a healthy snack to hand.
The mithai and namkeen industry needs to cash on this fact; as most of our traditional sweets and savoury snacks tend to have a great number of dried fruits and nuts, they have health benefits. Plus a lot of mithais are made simply from dried fruits and nuts nothing else added – imagine what a health and immunity bomb ball or slice that mithai would be! And our savoury snacks are inadequate without chunks of cashews, almonds, raisins, and coconuts.
M.Phani Raghavalu, MD, Eat Cashew said, “Dry fruits and edible nuts are an integral part of Indian mithai, namkeen, and ice cream markets, and they won’t be wrong to say that edible nuts and dried fruits are becoming the face of sweet and namkeen market.”
Due to the established health benefits of dry fruits and edible nuts, and its unique flavour that every Indian household recognizes, dry fruits and edible nuts continue to play a major role in the overall recipe of Indian sweet and namkeen markets. Also the usage of dry fruits and nuts in ice creams, biscuits, and chocolates growing exceptionally. Definitely, a sweet counter would be incomplete without dry fruits.
Rajat Kamath Bola, Director Bolas Agro Pvt Ltd. agreed that a mithai and namkeen retail shelf is incomplete without nuts and dry fruits.” Both the industries are intertwined as dry fruits are major ingredients in most mithais and namkeens”, he added.
In addition to this, sweets counters are offering standalone dry fruits and nuts as roasted snacks. Nuts and dry fruits are also increasingly being used in the gifting range of sweet counters during festive seasons.
Nuts are a great source of protein and iron especially if you are a vegetarian. This means healthy bones, muscles, nerves, teeth, and skin.
“Dry fruits and nuts have been an integral part of India’s culture and tradition and have a pivotal role even in the mithais and namkeen market, informed Devna Khanna, Director, i2i Consulting, California Walnuts.
She articulated that California Walnuts are a perfect fit for the Indian mithais segment and has gained a larger share in the past few years in this market. It is also for its health quotient that more retail mithai chains, as well as consumers, are increasingly demanding nuts and dry fruits.
Indians have traditionally been fond of sweets, and of late there is a significant shift towards premium-ness with the addition/ usage of nuts and dry fruits. This is also due to more emphasis on healthy on nutritious products, adjoined Ritesh Bajaj- Director, Bajaj Food Group .
Finding the best nuts and dried fruits
Indeed nuts and dries fruits have become a fundamental part of Indian traditional sweets and namkeens but their procurement has become a very intricate thing. The market is full of bogus quality products that if procured can adversely affect the flavor of mithais or namkeen, thereby damaging the market value of sweets and savoury snacks.
According to Ritesh Bajaj, it is of utmost importance that the sweets and namkeen manufacturers need to be self-vigilant and take due care to buy nuts as ingredients from reputed importers/ processors.
Buying the raw material with reputed suppliers most quality issues will not arise. “Similarly we can insist suppliers to send the material with test certificates from a reputed lab”, assented M.Phani Raghavalu.
Devna Khanna asserted that quality in today’s time is paramount. Consumers have realized during this pandemic that quality is most significant when it comes to food choices. She added that food safety is critically important to the California Walnut Industry, which is grown and processed under strict quality control standards and FSSAI in India is ensuring better food quality and safe consumption of food products in the country.
Rajat Kamath explained that the Indian dry fruits industry is fragmented with organized, unorganized, and mandi-based suppliers. In order to reduce the surprises in quality, it is recommended to source from top importers/ processors. They provide greater traceability of the goods and consistency over a particular lot. This will greatly reduce the need to go for lab tests for every single consignment, rather than having to do it per lot.
The newly-charted health discourse in India
Covid pandemic has boosted the global demand for dried fruits and nuts and their production increased over the last decade, reaching 2.9 million tonnes in 2020-21, and a 22 per cent above 2011-12.
Nuts are characterized by their high energy density as a result of their high lipid content (especially from unsaturated fatty acids). They also contain plant-protein and significant amounts of polyphenols, phytosterols, vegetable fiber, and micronutrients (folates, vitamin E, selenium, magnesium, among other minerals and vitamins) that may interact synergically to benefit our health. Almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, cashews, pistachios, peanuts, Brazil nuts, macadamias, pine nuts, and pecans, contain all these nutrients, therefore the consumption of this food group might help regulate immunologic and inflammatory responses.
Certain dietary patterns, in which fruits and nuts are featured prominently, reduce risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Unfortunately, marketing and publicizing the benefits of nuts and dry fruits has not been done at the level that was required, the exceptional COVID-19 pandemic made us realize that the field of nuts and dried fruits can at least be the immune boosters that can protect us against this deadly virus to some extent by increasing our immunity.
“It’s true that health benefits of dry fruits and nuts not been adequately explored with the general public, except for California almonds, no other dry fruits and nuts able to penetrate well with their health benefits to the public said Raghavalu.
There was a proposal and request from cashew industry to CEPCI to initiate steps to highlight health benefits of cashew through media, reference to the successful way the egg consumption that has been promoted by NECC aggressively.
But Rajat Kamath said that there is an increasing awareness in today’s consumers regarding the health benefits of nuts and dried fruits. Hence, subconsciously, the consumers are picking up products with dry fruits as major ingredients from the shelves.
This is evident from the offtake numbers and increasing demand for dry fruit-based mithais in recent times.
Generic marketing campaigns on the health benefits of nuts and dry fruits will definitely help further this phenomenon. Also, consuming a tasty mithai with healthy dry fruits reduces the guilt factor prevalent in a portion of consumers.
“We are seeing the development of a niche market in healthy processed snacking. New product development teams of the mithai industry and the nuts industry are working together to create products that are nutrition-focused, healthy, and tasty at the same time. Development of this range will definitely add value to the sweet shelf”, reckoned Rajat Kamath.
Devna Khanna also agrees that consumer awareness is gradually increasing and walnuts are heart-healthy, good for the brain, and good for a healthy gut. Walnuts also support immunity and are a powerhouse of Omega 3 – ALA and a larger number of people are identifying and responding to its health benefits.
“Even the Government of India recently
issued guidelines regarding food and lifestyle habits which can be helpful in boosting immunity. These guidelines prominently featured walnuts as part of the recommended diet,” suffixed Khanna.
Adding to this Ritesh Bajaj said, “Taste and health have been the key parameters for nuts as snacks”.
The sorting, grading and upgraded machinery
Because so much is changing so quickly, nut and dried fruit processors face more challenges today than ever before. Some will have to modernize their working practices and technologies in order to survive. Others, by making the best use of technologies, will turn the challenges into opportunities and thrive.
The traditional method of sorting nuts and dry fruits isn’t sophisticated enough anymore. Besides this, some of the businesses using flotation tanks – and many farmers who grow nuts – face another new challenge: climate change and droughts. Also, labour is getting scarcer. It has rarely been easy to recruit and retain people to work on processing lines. This is making an age-old challenge worse.
Fondly called the “king of dry fruits”, almonds are a powerhouse of essential fatty acids, fiber, and protein. They are a great natural source of vitamin E, zinc, and selenium.
The extent and diversity of all these challenges might seem disheartening, but solutions can be found – and most of them in state-of-the-art sorting machines and automation.
Automated Sorters are well-known for ensuring food safety and quality by detecting and removing imperfect produce from processing lines, but modern sensor-based sorting technologies do so much more than this. Sorting technology helps maximize productivity with high throughput rates. It minimizes the amount of product discarded and maximizes profitability because sorters can grade nuts accurately. Sorters also use water only sparingly and reduce dependency on manual labor. These are exactly the kind of capabilities nut processors need to survive and thrive.
Traditional grading was human-dependent. Later, mechanical devices were used to differentiate agricultural products based on their dimensions and weight. Such devices are still in use today as a reliable method for grading and sorting.
More recently, as image processing algorithms emerged, visual inspection techniques were added to perfect the process. They often were manually tuned and provided a substitute to the human eye, enabling to detect many defects, which humans cannot detect when the pace becomes faster. The new wave of intelligent algorithms for grading and sorting is much more powerful than traditional visual analysis algorithms: they have automatic learning capabilities, which ensure a detection performance far beyond the speed and accuracy of any trained operator.
M. Phani Raghavalu explained that now most of the graders, sorters, metal detectors are automated with the latest upgradation that most processors are following. It’s slowly become compulsory to maintain consistency in quality and maintain standards. “If we maintain raw material of good quality, and processed in the food-safe environment, it helps overall quality of the final product. Good quality and consistent quality raw materials minimize food safety risks at sweet and namkeen units”, he adjoined.
Devna Khanna stated that while products coming from a trusted and good source are always safe and hygienic, it is always recommended to have checks and balances in the processing cycle to ensure that consumers get the best possible end product.
“The technology in sorting and grading has greatly advanced in the past 5 years and Bolas has an SOP of passing the product through expert optical grading system and x-ray inspection system. The technology is still evolving and we hope to guarantee a zero-defect product in the near future said, Rajat Kamath.
Mithai manufacturers may have multiple suppliers with varying levels of post processing cleaning; hence there is nothing wrong with having a second check to be doubly sure. With advanced machinery, manpower can be greatly reduced
Challenges –availability, purchase, storage, and moisture
M. Phani Raghavalu reproached that high-quality storage facilities are very important to store dried fruits and nuts, since they attract infestation easily, it’s quite important to keep them as per food safety requirements. “And buying any dried fruits and nuts in advance is definitely economical compare to spot buying. For advanced buying, one should have knowledge of every season and buying when prices are at low and store”, he explained.
Another challenge that the edible nut and dry fruit industry faces are moisture – it is the biggest risk in the storage of dried fruits and edible nuts. “We can’t leave the product open. After usage, we have to keep the product in safe locations without exposing to the atmosphere,’ added Phani.
So tin packing, vacuum sealing, airtight room storage will help minimize the moisture risk. Product with moisture attracts the infestation and may become rancid. So, every processor needs to take a lot of care avoiding the product exposure to moisture. Heating the product in ovens with low temperatures is a good solution to minimize the moisture content.
According to Rajat Kamath, though challenges of sourcing during harvesting season make sense commercially since most dry fruits are high-value commodities, it may not make financial sense as there would be fund blockage.
“Bolas Agro Private Limited provides forward commitments to the mithai industry during the harvesting season. With this, we give assured supply, fixed price and finance our partners based on long term relationship”, illuminated Rajat.
He also stressed the issue of moisture, saying that moisture plays a key role in whole nut and dry fruit processing and storage. “We are trying to educate the mithai manufacturers regarding the importance of controlling moisture of dry fruits”, he said.
Bolas has an SOP of drying the nuts just before it is packaged to be dispatched. Also, the levels of oxidation can be reduced with minimal exposure to air from the time of processing/chopping to the time of packing. However, there is a cost involved in this process.
“Unfortunately the purchase managers of mithai institutions compare the price of these dried, moisture-controlled nuts with the ones available in the mandi, which are added with moisture to increase realization” he lamented.
Devna Khanna stated that proper storage is the key because walnuts are a daily essential, so proper know-how on storage and handling is crucial. Appropriate storage methods have to be followed to maintain quality of the product. Walnuts should be refrigerated to maintain optimum quality.
Only the best practices should be deployed to ensure the fresh taste of all dried fruits and nuts. Walnuts go rancid when exposed to warm temperatures for long periods of time. Heat causes the fat in walnuts to change the structure, which creates off-odors and flavors. Fresh walnuts smell mildly nutty and taste sweet. Walnuts purchased in bulk, either in-shell or shelled, should be placed in airtight containers for long-term cold storage so that they remain fresh and moisture-free.
Ritesh Bajaj said that it depends on the manufacturer’s cash flow/ financial strength and also they should be careful of timing especially for almonds where prices are most volatile. “Many unscrupulous players add moisture to make additional margins, and such products have a high risk of rancidity in monsoon”, he added.
Conclusion
Standing at the crossroads of somewhat tumultuous shifts in lifestyles and increasing incomes, the Indian consumer today is willing to go the extra mile to maintain healthy eating habits, even more so if they are rooted in culture and tradition. Dried fruits and nuts fit the bill. With their cultural origins in lavish opulence, the category is fast expanding its ‘foodprint’, making its way into the snacking tiffin box, on-the-go small pack in the bag and in breakfast cereals while retaining its dominance in traditional sweet and namkeen, cooked food, and as a garnish in kulfis. All this, while still reflecting quintessential exotic India. It’s not surprising, therefore, to see the consequent steady growth in the category.
In addition to the functional benefits, nuts and dried fruits also carry rich emotional associations, making them one of the most popular choices for gifting in India. India is a land of many festivals and each festival usually involves gifts to friends and relatives as a mark of auspice. To celebrate the traditional heritage, these festivals act as a pretext to mark cultural rootedness. Indian sweets (mithai), nuts, and dried fruits are by far the most popular choice for gifting during festivals and weddings. And since nuts and dried fruits are becoming an inherent part of mithai and namkeens, the impact doubles on. You get a delectable mithai with the crunchiness of health in form of nuts and fruits. Or you get a chatpata, teekha namkeen with a burst of sweetness in raisin, nuttiness of walnuts and almonds, and crunching of cashews. Yums!
The sad part is that this category is mostly sold loose in India and the branded products are mostly imported. More recently, with the advent of malls and retailer brands, there are fragmented players in the market selling dried fruits and nuts in the packaged format. Interestingly, this is the only category that is seen in both separate dried fruits and nuts counters where they are sold in bulk as well as in premium, packaged formats closer to the cash counter. Thus, a category that was once restricted to reflect opulence and exclusivity in Indian cuisine may soon be making inroads into impulse counters and in small pouch formats, thus encouraging the “small eats” occasions even further.