What is "petha"

n. 1 A pumpkin (in Hindi) 2 A North Indian dessert made out of pumpkin dipped in sugar syrup. Especially famous are Pethas from Agra (a city in North India)

Petha ( Hindi: पेठा pronounced ) is a translucent soft candy from North India. Usually rectangular or cylindrical, it is made from the ash gourd vegetable (also known as winter melon or white pumpkin, or simply petha in Hindi and Urdu).

With growing demand and innovation, more varieties of the original preparation are available. Many flavoured variants are available, e.g. kesar petha, angoori petha etc. There are some other variations based on content, one with coconut mixed, another with some nuts put into it. Sometimes kewda essence is used to flavour petha.