Groundnut Brittle: The English Name Behind India's Favorite Peanut-Jaggery Candy
Groundnut Brittle is the British-English name for the traditional Indian peanut-and-jaggery candy widely known as Peanut Chikki, Kadalai Mittai, or Kadala Mittai. Made by combining roasted groundnuts with carefully cooked jaggery or sugar syrup, this simple confection is loved for its satisfying crunch and rich, caramel-like sweetness. Across India, the same sweet appears under different regional names, with Kovilpatti Kadalai Mittai in Tamil Nadu standing out for its GI-tagged regional identity. This blog explores the difference between groundnuts and peanuts, how traditional brittle is made, its many regional names, and the significance of Kovilpatti’s celebrated version.
Groundnut brittle is the British-English term for what's called peanut chikki, kadalai mittai, or kadala mittai across different regions of India — a hard, crunchy candy made by binding roasted groundnuts (peanuts) together with boiled jaggery or sugar syrup. The word "groundnut" itself is simply the British and Commonwealth English term for peanut, making this less a distinct dish and more a naming convention that matters for anyone searching in international or British-English contexts.
Groundnut vs. Peanut: A Naming Difference, Not a Different Food
For anyone new to Indian sweets or searching in British/Commonwealth English, "groundnut brittle" and "peanut brittle" (or peanut chikki, in Indian regional terms) refer to the same category of confection. "Groundnut" is the standard British-English name for the plant Arachis hypogaea — called "peanut" in American English — and both terms are used interchangeably in product listings and recipe writing depending on the target audience.
How It's Made
The technique is consistent regardless of which name is used: roasted groundnuts are folded into hot sugar or jaggery syrup once it reaches a specific temperature stage — generally the hard-ball or soft-crack stage, roughly 130°C when using jaggery — then the mixture is spread flat and cut or broken into pieces once cooled. The jaggery-based Indian versions are technically distinct from Western-style groundnut/peanut brittle, which typically uses refined white sugar rather than jaggery, giving the Indian version a deeper, more molasses-forward flavor.
India's Regional Names for the Same Confection
Depending on where in India you are, this exact category of sweet goes by a range of names, all referring to essentially the same groundnut-and-sweetener brittle:
- Chikki — the most widely recognized pan-Indian name, originating in Lonavala, Maharashtra
- Kadalai Mittai — the Tamil Nadu name, most associated with the town of Kovilpatti
- Kadala Mittai — the Kerala version of the same name
- Palli Patti — used in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana
Why This Matters for Anyone Searching Online
Because "groundnut" is the dominant term in British English, Indian diaspora communities in the UK, and several Commonwealth countries, product listings and recipes aimed at those audiences frequently use "groundnut brittle" rather than "peanut brittle" or the regional Tamil/Malayalam/Telugu names — even when describing the exact same Kovilpatti-style peanut-jaggery candy sold under Tamil names within India itself.
The GI-Tagged Version: Kovilpatti's Groundnut Brittle
Among India's regional groundnut brittle traditions, Kovilpatti's version — known locally as Kovilpatti Kadalai Mittai — stands out as the only one to have received a formal Geographical Indication (GI) tag from the Government of India, legally tying the name and production method to the Kovilpatti region specifically. This makes it, in effect, the most "official" and protected version of groundnut brittle produced anywhere in the country.
