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5 min
18/12/2025
For generations, gond has been an edible gum used in ladoos and snacks, often eaten in winter, in Indian kitchens. It can be warming, provide energy, and move you past fatigue in the winter months. Whether it be a natural booster for post-pregnancy recovery and postpartum strength and energy, or for everyday energy, gond has been a natural winter tonic.
For centuries, edible gum, known as gond, has quietly contributed to the way Indians eat during winter. Edible gum is made from tree sap, which makes it puffed and crunchy, and transforms it into another ingredient in many variations of winter sweets. Indian families have relied on edible gum because it generates internal warmth, creates strength in joints, provides a boost to the body's immunity, and aids the body and joints in cold weather. Edible gum has always been a source of nourishment, protection, and comfort in various seasonal traditions, often mixed with nuts or flours, jaggery, or ghee. If winter existed in all regions of India and the years that follow, edible gum has been one of the most trusted seasonal superfoods for Indians.
If you spent your childhood in India, there is a likelihood that your grandmother had a small box stashed away in the kitchen containing something that meant nothing to you—a strange-looking set of crystals called gond. You probably did not fully understand why it was given so much importance. But now? You finally realise gond is essentially the original health supplement for winter, before the idea of "health supplements" was packaged up and marketed with flashy marketing slogans or dynamics.
Gond is, at its core, the natural gum that oozes out of certain types of trees—primarily babul or acacia. When it is stored away, it looks like shattered pieces of golden glass—hard and shiny to the naked eye. The moment you deposit the gond into heated ghee, it puffs up spontaneously and magically. It is airy, light, crackly, and perfect for folding into ladoos, panjiris, or those winter treats that grandmothers closely guard.
Winters in India can be harsh—especially in the north—and traditionally, people relied on food (as opposed to medicine) for both heating the body and maintaining its energy. Gond became valuable because it genuinely helps the body change in cold weather.
It's warming. It's dense. It's sustaining. And it is precisely the sort of thing that your grandmother would be saying to eat "taaki thand na lage."
To be honest? It’s effective. This natural gum generates heat from within—something you’ll notice with just a couple of hours after you eat a gond ladoo! It settles in, quite literally, and acts more like a steady source of fuel.
One of the primary reasons why the gond became so popular over the centuries is its association with strength. For generations, new mothers have been indulged with gond-based sweets for recovery. Farmers and labourers have eaten it, and children have even been encouraged to have a small ladoo so they don’t get sick or feel weak.
That said, gond has a particular quality of supporting the body through stress—whether it’s physical stress or seasonal stress. It strengthens joints and supports bones while providing a slow, steady release of energy perfect for chilly mornings.
This is why the quintessential winter mix—ghee, wheat flour, nuts, gond, jaggery—became such a classic. Everything in that combination has a purpose; it isn’t random.
In addition to warmth and strength, gond has another overlooked benefit: it is suitable for digestion. It comes from nature in a gelled form, which is gentle on the stomach. And since winter slows down your digestion, gond helps keep your system working comfortably.
Gond is also said to support immunity due to its natural plant properties; neither of these uses the terminology that people know and recognise as “immunity-boosting” and “gut-healing,” yet moms and grandmas certainly knew this, and that's why they got us to consume it in winter. They didn’t need any terminology—they simply practised wholesome food eating knowledge.
The moment you mention gond, you are likely to think of gond ladoo. Soft and warm, with a nutty flavour and just the right amount of sweetness, gond ladoo is essentially edible nostalgia. But, gond ladoo is not all that gond can be; it is found in panjiri, pinni, churma, and some halwa.
Every region has its own style, every home has its own way, and every grandmother adds her own special touch. What remains is the underlying reasoning—warmth, stamina, recovery, resilience. These sweets were never intended for overindulgence; they were designed for functional, mindful, and bodily care.
Isn't it funny? The rest of the world is just now catching up to what Indian kitchens have long known. Gond is now being referred to as a "natural prebiotic," a "plant-based alternative," and even a "functional wholefood." All the while, our grandmothers simply used gond without needing those labels.
Today, many people are rediscovering gond as winter approaches, especially with the revival of traditional millets and herbs. What was formerly an old-fashioned ingredient is now labelled a "superfood." But for the Indian family, it was always super.
Beyond the science, gond evokes emotion. It reminds you of cold mornings warmed by a ladoo, of your grandmother's steel tins with winter confections, of the times your grandmother insisted, "sirf ek aur kha lo."
It reminds you of a time when eating with the seasons made perfect sense, when food was used for healing, when winter food was instinctual and observational, rather than derived from trends.
Even today, gond is the thing that warms you—not just physically, but emotionally. It brings people, memories, and a method of eating that always felt right together.