Making the silver foil on your sweets... :(

[Kulapavana 0]

Varakh (Silver Foil)

 

Do you know how the varakh on your sweets (mithai) is

manufactured? As a child I remember always asking for those

sweets that had silver foil on them. Even today children as well as

adults go for varakh on the sweets. Its popular appeal has a

stronger hold on people's mind, increasing the demand and there

by it's supply. If people know the source and method of making it, I

am sure they will never eat the silver-coated sweets again.

Let us find out the procedure from the article written by Beauty

Without Cruelty (BWC), India branch. We are thankful to them for

this valuable information.

 

If you look beyond the glitter of varakh, into the sheds where it is

produced, and at the lives that are sacrificed to make this possible,

you would think twice before buying that box of sweets topped with

the precious silver foil!

 

Silver foil, or varakh, as it is generally known in India, adds glitter

to Indian sweets (mithai), supari (betel nut), paan (betel-leaf), and

fruits. Also it is used in Ayurvedic medicines and on deities in

many Jain temples. The silver-topped sweet is even served as

prasad in temples and on auspicious and religious occasions.

Varakh is also used in flavored syrups as in kesar (saffron) syrup.

Several years ago, as suggested by BWC, Indian Airlines

instructed their caterers to stop the use of varakh on sweets

(mithai) served on board their flights. Today, many ask for sweets

without varakh, having realized the cruelty involved in its

preparation.

 

According to a feature article in Business India, an astounding 275

tons of silver are eaten annually into foil for sweets and

chyavanprash! That is a whopping 2,75,000 kilograms! (At the

45 present market rate that would cost a phenomenal Rs. 165 Crore

or $ 40 million U.S. Dollars).

 

Just how is varakh made and what is it that makes its preparation

and consumption so sinful?

 

Varakh is not derived from an animal source. However, a crucial

material of animal origin, ox-gut, is used in its manufacture. This

ox-gut is obtained from the slaughterhouse.

 

In the by lanes of the villages of Ahmedabad (Gujarat state, India)

and other cities, amidst filthy surroundings, placed between layers

of ox-gut, small thin strips of silver are hammered to produce the

glittering foil.

 

The intestine (ox-gut), smeared with blood and mucus, is pulled

out from the slaughtered animal by the butcher at the

slaughterhouse, and sold for the specific purpose. Note that it is

not a by-product of slaughter, but like everything else meat, hide,

and bones are sold by weight. This is then taken away to be

cleaned and used in the manufacture of varakh.

 

The gut of an average cow, measuring 540 inches in length and 3

inches in diameter, is cut open into a piece measuring 540" x 10".

From this, strips of 9" x 10" are cut to give approximately 60 pieces

of ox -gut, which are then piled one onto another and bound to form

a book of 171 leaves.

 

Next, small thin strips of silver are placed between the sheets and

the book slipped into a leather pouch (note that the use of leatheran

animal product again). Artisans then hammer these bundles

continuously for a day to produce extremely thin foils of silver of 3"

x 5".

 

The leather and ox-gut, being supple, can withstand the intense

manual hammering for up to 8 hours a day till such time as the

silver is beaten to the desired thickness. When ready, the foil is

carefully lifted from between the leaves of ox -gut and placed

between sheets of paper to be sold to the sweet makers

(mithaiwallas). A booklet of 160 foils weighs approximately 10

grams and costs about Rs. 200 ($5.00).

 

To make a single booklet of 171 sheets, the guts of 3 cows are

used. And the yield per book is generally 160 foils of silver, the

rest of which may be damaged or unfit for use. Thus one book,

used on an average of 300 days of the year yields approximately

48,000 foils of silver which means that each ox-gut yields an

estimated 16,000 foils.

 

The leather used for the pouch to hold the book (made from oxgut),

is cowhide or calf leather, and uses about 232 sq. inches of

material. Assuming the size of an average cowhide to be 18 sq. ft

or 2,600 sq. Inches, the yield per hide will be approximately 10

leather pouches.

 

Usually 4 foils are used per kilograms (2.2 lbs.) of sweets and the

ox-gut of one cow is used to produce foil for approximately 4,000

kilograms (9,000 lbs.) of sweets. It is estimated (by Surveys) that

the average consumption of sweets by a middle class family of four

in India is about 100 kilograms per year.

 

Thus, an average middle class Indian family of four consuming

approximately 100 kg of sweets per year for forty years consumes

silver foil produced with the gut of 3 cows and one-tenth of a

cowhide!

 

India is not the only country where foil is made by such methods.

In Germany, small-specialized enterprises produce gold leaf, which

is beaten down to 1/10,000-millimeter thickness, for decorative and

technical purposes by similar methods. The Jews use the gold foil

for as much the same purposes, namely for food preparations, as it

is in India.

 

In India the 275 tons of silver that are beaten annually into varakh

utilize intestines of 516,000 cows and calf leather of 17,200

animals each year.

 

Therefore, we hope that someone; somewhere will develop an

alternative process for the making of varakh without using ox -gut.