Vark
Encyclopedia
Vark, Varak, Varakh or Varkh, Varq (Hindi: वर्ख Vərkh) is any foil
/ layer of very pure, typically silver, used for garnishing Indian sweets. The silver is edible, though flavorless. Large quantities of ingested elemental silver can cause argyria
, but the use of vark is not considered harmful to the body, since the quantities involved in normal use are minuscule. This however is only true as long as the foil contains only high purity silver. One study has found that about 10% of the foils found in the Indian market were made of aluminium
. Of the tested foils, 46% of the samples were found to have the desired purity requirement of 99.9% silver, whereas the rest of the 54% were substandard with some even containing toxic cadmium
.
Vark is made by pounding silver into a sheet a few micrometre
s thick, and backed with paper for support; this paper is peeled away before use. It is extremely brittle and breaks into smaller pieces if touched. Vark sheets are laid or rolled over Indian sweets made from dates, nuts and various fruit and vegetable based rolls or sheet candies.
Vegetarian lobbyists claim that vark is hammered between layers of animal fat or hide and is thus a non-vegetarian product. However, there are certain vegetarian options of vark available in markets.
Like silver vark also there is gold leaf, gold flakes and gold dust made from gold.
Metal leaf
Metal leaf, also called composition leaf or schlagmetal, is a thin foil used for decoration. Metal leaf can come in many different shades. Some metal leaf may look like gold leaf but not contain any real gold...
/ layer of very pure, typically silver, used for garnishing Indian sweets. The silver is edible, though flavorless. Large quantities of ingested elemental silver can cause argyria
Argyria
Argyria is a condition caused by improper exposure to chemical forms of the element silver, silver dust, or silver compounds. The most dramatic symptom of argyria is that the skin becomes blue or bluish-grey colored. Argyria may be found as generalized argyria or local argyria...
, but the use of vark is not considered harmful to the body, since the quantities involved in normal use are minuscule. This however is only true as long as the foil contains only high purity silver. One study has found that about 10% of the foils found in the Indian market were made of aluminium
Aluminium
Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....
. Of the tested foils, 46% of the samples were found to have the desired purity requirement of 99.9% silver, whereas the rest of the 54% were substandard with some even containing toxic cadmium
Cadmium
Cadmium is a chemical element with the symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft, bluish-white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12, zinc and mercury. Similar to zinc, it prefers oxidation state +2 in most of its compounds and similar to mercury it shows a low...
.
Vark is made by pounding silver into a sheet a few micrometre
Micrometre
A micrometer , is by definition 1×10-6 of a meter .In plain English, it means one-millionth of a meter . Its unit symbol in the International System of Units is μm...
s thick, and backed with paper for support; this paper is peeled away before use. It is extremely brittle and breaks into smaller pieces if touched. Vark sheets are laid or rolled over Indian sweets made from dates, nuts and various fruit and vegetable based rolls or sheet candies.
Vegetarian lobbyists claim that vark is hammered between layers of animal fat or hide and is thus a non-vegetarian product. However, there are certain vegetarian options of vark available in markets.
Like silver vark also there is gold leaf, gold flakes and gold dust made from gold.