Diwali 2020: 4 Simple Tests To Check If Your Silver Leaves Or Chandi Varq Is Pure Or Adulterated

Diwali 2020 is just around the corner and preparations have already started. Sweet shops have started filling up with delicious sweet treats as well as gift hampers for eager buyers. The sweets are not just delicious in taste, but also decked up in amazing shapes, sizes and gold and silver leaves, to add bling to them for Diwali. Silver leaves are very common on a number of Deepavali mithais like laddoos, barfis, milk cakes etc. However, the percentage of adulterated sweets and desserts sold during Diwali increases phenomenally, and there is a general wariness of store-bough sweets which may be either stale or adulterated or both. There are a number of ingredients used in Diwali sweets that are adulterated by opportunistic suppliers, including milk, mawa and even the silver leaves of chandi ka varq. This year Diwali will be celebrated on 14th November 2020.

Silver leaves have several purposes when used on top of sweets and desserts. For one, they make the sweets look attractive and more people want to gift sweets that are more aesthetically pleasing. Additionally, silver has antimicrobial properties and it prevents the growth of bacteria on these sweet meats. Several sweet meat owners use cheap silver leaves which are adulterated with harmful metals like aluminium. A lot of times, the varq used is impure and may even contain some heavy metals like nickel, cadmium and lead! Moreover, a number of such sweets are prepared in unsanitary conditions, by halwais who don't know how to use it proper and healthy manner. Consuming sweets with adulterated chandi ka varq on them can be very harmful for your health.

Also Read: Diwali 2020: Date, Time, Significance Of Deepavali Puja And Festive Recipes To Try

How To Check Silver Varq For Adulteration

Here are a few simple and easy tests to check if you silver varq or chandi varq is adulterated or pure:

1. Pure silver varq doesn't leave a residue, when rubbed with your fingers and if it's doing that, it maybe adulterated with aluminium.

2. To use silver varq on homemade sweets, try igniting one silver leaf and if it burns into a ball, it is pure. However, if it is adulterated with aluminium, it will leave behind a residue of ashes that are greyish black in colour.

Also Read: Diwali 2020: 7-Day Diwali Diet To Shine This Festive Season

3. When treated to hydrochloric acid, pure silver leaves a white precipitate. So, if you put a pure unadulterated silver leaf in a solution of HCl, it will turn the water turbid and leave a whitish precipitate.

4. You can check for purity of silver leaves by rubbing a leaf in between your palms. If it disappears, it is pure, but if it leaves some silvery imprint on your palms, it is adulterated.

Make sure no one in your home consumed sweets with adulterated silver leaves on them, by telling them about these simple tests. You can only enjoy Diwali if you stay healthy!

Happy Diwali 2020!