Sugar-free barfi found dead: Cause of death was a recipe with a hole in it

A post-mortem of the saddest tray at the Diwali sweet counter, and the five jobs its missing ingredient used to do.

In Short

• Sugar does five jobs in mithai; sweeteners replace just one
• Without sugar, barfi turns sandy and laddoo crumbles into pieces
• Rebuild the recipe using milk solids, fibre and moisture-holders instead

The deceased was found at 4 pm on a Friday, two days before Diwali, on the smallest tray at the sweet counter. It was a barfi, a day old. The mithai belonged to a respectable family. A handwritten card beside it read "sugar-free". The card, investigators noted, was the only thing holding it together.

The body was sandy to the touch. On being lifted, it fell apart, leaving a faint cloud of crumbs and an air of apology. A nearby laddoo was also found in poor condition. A jamun, discovered at the scene, was bouncing. Detectives could not explain this and chose not to try.

An inquest was called immediately.

WHO WAS THE VICTIM?

A barfi is a milk sweet, set in a tray and cut into diamonds. In life, it was soft, smooth, and glossy, and it kept its shape under pressure, including the pressure of a relative asking for a second piece.

The coroner, a food technologist, noted one thing at once. "This barfi did not die of old age. It died of something missing."

WHO ARE THE SUSPECTS?

The first suspect was the sweetener. A sachet of stevia was found nearby, looking guilty. Sweeteners such as stevia and sucralose are hundreds of times sweeter than sugar, so a pinch is enough. That sounds efficient. It is, in fact, the problem.

A pinch has no bulk. It does not hold water, and it cannot manage crystals, the tiny sugar grains whose size decides whether a barfi is smooth or sandy.

Hiring a pinch of sweetener to replace sugar is like hiring a trumpeter to hold up a roof. He is loud, he is sweet, and the ceiling is coming down.

The second suspect was fibre, a bulking agent, who was released on questioning. The third was a sugar alcohol, who was found to have a cooling effect on the tongue and a mild effect on the stomach if used in large amounts. He was warned and sent home.

WHAT DID THE WITNESSES SAY?

The laddoo, speaking through a spoonful of crumbs, said it had held together for years, because sugar syrup acts like glue between the grains. Without that syrup, it said, nothing was holding hands anymore.

The jamun, still bouncing, said it had been soaked in a syrup of sweetener and water and had come out as a rubber ball. It asked to be excused. It had a very important appointment with the floor.

WHAT, EXACTLY, WAS MISSING?

The coroner produced a list. Sugar, it turns out, had five jobs, and nobody had told the barfi.

First, it was sweet. Everyone knew that. Second, it bound water, so the sweet stayed soft instead of drying out. Third, it controlled crystals, keeping the texture smooth. Fourth, it browned, because heated sugar turns golden, giving halwa and kheer their warm colour.

Fifth, it preserved. Dissolved sugar holds water so tightly that microbes cannot use it, so a sugary sweet lasts longer than a plain milk one.

"Remove sugar and replace it with a pinch," said the coroner, "and you have fired five employees and hired one."

WHAT IS THE VERDICT?

The court found that the barfi died of a recipe with a hole in it. The recipe had been copied from the sugar version, the sugar had been deleted, and no one had asked who would do the work.

It issued three recommendations. Build the sweet around structure from other places: milk solids, nut pastes and pulses, which carry protein and fat.

Add bulk from a fibre or sugar alcohol, a moisture-holder to keep it soft, and a measured sweetener for taste. And, where possible, reduce sugar rather than abolish it, keeping a little for the jobs only it can do.

The court also noted, in fairness, that some customers do not mind a different texture, and that a halwai at the busiest week of the year has more urgent matters than rewriting recipes. The defence rested, tired.

WHAT HAPPENS TO THE NEXT BARFI?

The sweet counter still has its yellow lights, its silver leaf and its feather-light halwai. All it needs is a recipe without a hole.

The court adjourned for tea. It was served with sugar.

Radifah Kabir is a food and biotechnologist.

- Ends