KOZHIKODE: As the price of LPG domestic cylinder is about Rs 1,000, people are looking for alternatives. This is evident in the increased demand for Kerala Shastra Sahitya Parishad-developed ‘Choodara Petti’ (hot box). Its pressure-controlled enclosure helps keep the temperature of the item enclosed for a long period without heating, thereby saving fuel. In 2021-22, 10,741 hot boxes were sold across the state, a big leap from 5,614 sold in 2020-21 and 9,061 in 2019-20. Notably, the increase in the sales was organic.
“The methodology of Choodara Petti is simple. After heating the raw materials for preparing a food on the stove -- say the rice and water -- the stove is switched off and the vessel is put in the hot box,” explains Lilly C, executive director of Parishad production centre, under the Integrated Rural Technology Centre (ITRC) of KSSP.
“The hot box provides the same temperature for a prolonged period without additional fuel and the rice gets cooked. Normally, after the water is boiled on the stove, we reduce the flame and still keep it for 10-20 more minutes on the burner. Fuel consumption, time and money can be saved each time we use the hot box,” she adds.
About 80g of LPG is saved every time 1kg of rice is cooked, and that adds up to 2.5 cylinders a year, Lilly says. “That may sound small. But considering the reduction in carbon dioxide emission which, in turn, checks global warming and the savings in terms of energy, time and money, the difference is remarkable,” she says.
Former KSSP Kozhikode district secretary Sasidharan Maniyur says demand has increased for the parishad’s bio-gas plant as well. “On a single day, a nuclear family can produce bio-gas sufficient to run for more than two hours in the kitchen by making use of the cooked rice water and vegetable waste,” he says.
Sasidharan believes it’s the common people who buy the hot box mostly. “It will be very useful for households where both the man and wife are working. They can prepare the food in the morning, put it in the hot box and use the same in the evening,” he says.
Valsala K, who resides near Naduvannur and has been using the hot box for 22 years, says: “After heating the Kuruva rice, which needs to be boiled for a longer time, I put the same in the hot box and go to bed. The rice will be ready the next morning to be packed for lunch for my children.”Priced at Rs 375, the hot boxes are available at all KSSP offices and block-level centres.