Demand for dry fruits shoots up during winters in Kashmir

As the cold wave continues to tighten its grip across most parts of northern India, including the state of Jammu and Kashmir, the demand for dry fruits has increased with residents thronging local markets to buy them to keep themselves warm.

Residents were seen buying several varieties of dry fruits in Srinagar over the weekend.

They said that dry fruits rejuvenate them as they are a good source of energy, which contain concentrated fruit sugars

"There is a great demand for dry fruits at present. There is an increase in demand in Europe as well as walnuts are healthy in curing for heart ailments and in Kashmir the demand is rising and dry fruits serve as a good diet during winters. They have a lot of advantages. If children are given almonds with milk, it prevents them from cold and helps them keep warm and dry fruits also keep elderly fit," said a shopkeeper, Muhammad Shafi.

According to experts, dry fruits keep the body temperature stable and help the heart to function properly. Dry fruits like almonds, ground nuts and cashews are in great demand these days.

Almonds and cashews are also used in making a special tea know as 'kehwa', which is one of Kashmir's delight. People mostly drink it during early morning as it helps them to fight cold and protects from chest diseases.

Snowfall in the higher reaches of the Himalayas and intermittent rain in foothills of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand usually scale down mercury in the northern plains of India.