- Pootharekulu (plural) or poothareku (singular) is a popular Indian sweet from the Andhra Pradesh state of south-east India.[1] The sweet is wrapped in a wafer-thin rice starch layer resembling paper and is stuffed with sugar, dry fruits and nuts. The sweet is popular for festivals, religious occasions and weddings in the Telugu states.
The name of the sweet literally means ‘coated sheet’ in the Telugu language—pootha means ‘coating’ and reku (plural rekulu) means ‘sheet’ in Telugu. The making of pootharekulu is a cottage industry in Atreyapuram, where around 400 families are dependent on the making and marketing of the sweet. As of October 2018, the state of Andhra Pradesh was said to be in the process of applying for Geographic Indication (GI) tag for the sweet
