Laddu, or Ladoo, is one of the most important offering and prasadam given to devotees at the Tirumala Tirupati Lord Venkateswara Temple. Tirupati Laddu is a spherical-shaped sweet made of flour and sugar. In fact, Tirupati and the huge laddus are synonymous. It is a customary duty of a devotee returning from Tirupati Balaji Temple to distribute ‘laddu’ as prasadam to his neighbours, friends and relatives.
Some quick facts about Tirupati Laddu
Around 150,000 laddus are made daily.
One laddu is given free to each devotee; the number of daily devotees that visit the temple is around 50,000.
A devotee can buy extra two laddus – a small laddu costs 25 rupees and big laddu costs 100 rupees.
The revenue from the sale of laddu annually is more than 11 million rupees.
Each laddu weighs around 100gms and is huge when compared with the normal laddu found in shops.
There is a super huge Tirupati Laddu known as Kalyana Laddu and it weighs around 500gms – ½ a kilogram.
Single largest laddu made is said to have weighed 32 kg.
The tradition of Tirupati Laddu is nearly 300 years old.
It is prepared by special hereditary priests known as archakas in special temple kitchen known as ‘potu’.
Ingredients used in Tirupati Laddu are Besan flour (kadalai mavu), Sugar, Cashew nuts, Cardamom, Ghee, Oil, Sugar candy, Raisins and Almonds.
On a day around 5000 kg of Besan flour is used.
Sugar around 10000 kg.
Cashew nuts around 600 kg.
Cardamom 150 kg
Ghee 300 liters
Sugar candy 400 kg
Raisins 540 kg
The ingredients are bought at the auction at the Commodities and Spices Exchange in Kochi. Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTDs) the administrating body of the temple is planning to patent the Tirupati Laddu to stop counterfeits.