MAKER

Makkusé

Kathmandu, Nepal

Makkusé set out to bring back a smell Kathmandu had begun to lose: freshly roasted khuwa drifting out of a sweet shop. Khuwa is milk cooked down for hours until almost all the water has gone and what remains is thick, fudge-like and faintly caramelised. It is the base of most Nepali sweets, and it does not survive shortcuts. The milk comes from farming households in Mattey Gaun and Angi. It is simmered in iron kadais over wood fire, stirred by hand, then carried three hours to the kitchen — a trip repeated every single day, because khuwa made this way will not keep. From it the house makes pustakari, gundpak, cookies and gift boxes assembled for Dashain, Tihar and Lhosar. The name is the Newari word for scrumptious, and the logo is drawn in Kutaakshar, a Newar script. Both are deliberate: the recipes come out of Newar kitchens, and the brand keeps the credit there.