Bal Mithai
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| Place of origin | India |
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| Region or state | Kumaon, Uttarakhand (India) |
| Main ingredients | Khoya, cane sugar, white sugar |
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Bal Mithai (Hindi: बाल मिठाई) is a brown chocolate-like fudge, made with roasted khoya, coated with white sugar balls, and is a popular sweet from the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand in India, especially regions around Almora.
Over the years, the sweet has found home in many Kumaoni stories and folklore, arising from the milieu of Kumaon, as evident from the memoirs of noted Hindi writer.
Bal Mithai is made by cooking khoya (evaporated milk cream) with cane sugar, until it becomes dark brown in color, colloquially called "chocolate" for its color resemblance. This is allowed to settle and cool, and cut into cubes which are then garnished with small white sugar balls.
Bal Mithai has long been a specialty of the Almora district, and neighbouring Kumaon Hills, along with another local delicacy, Singhauri, which is another preparation of flavoured khoya, and comes wrapped in oak leaves.
There has been a recent move to make local sweet makers aware of Intellectual Property Rights, and Geographical Indications Protection (GI Protection) under, ‘The Geographical Indications of Goods Act, 1999’, which would allow them to patent local delicacies of Baal Mithai and Singhauri, which are symbolic to the region.
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Wikipedia