Rasgulla, also known as rasagola, rosogola or rosogolla, is a syrupy dessert popular in the
Bengal
Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...
region of the
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
. It is made from ball-shaped dumplings of
chhena and
semolina
Semolina is coarsely milled durum wheat mainly used in making couscous, and sweet puddings. The term semolina is also used to designate coarse millings of other varieties of wheat, and sometimes other grains (such as rice or corn) as well.
Ety ...
dough, cooked in light sugar syrup made of
sugar. This is done until the syrup permeates the dumplings.
The earliest evidence of rasagola can be found in the epic poem
Dandi Ramayana which was composed by famous Odia poet
Balarama Dasa
Balarama Dasa (alternatively spelled ''Balaram Das''; ; ) was an Odia poet and litterateur
An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for ...
in which he mentioned that rasagola is offered to Maa
Laxmi by Lord
Jagannath
Jagannath ( or, ଜଗନ୍ନାଥ, lit=Lord of the Universe, Jagannātha; formerly en, Juggernaut) is a deity worshipped in regional Hindu traditions in India and Bangladesh as part of a triad along with his brother Balabhadra, and sister ...
in a ritual called Niladri Bije.
While it is near-universally agreed upon that the dessert originated in the eastern Indian subcontinent, the exact locus of origin is disputed between locations such as
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...
, Bangladesh, and Odisha, where it is offered at the
Puri Jagannath Temple.
In 2016, the
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...
government applied for a
geographical indication
A geographical indication (GI) is a name or sign used on products which corresponds to a specific geographical location or origin (e.g., a town, region, or country). The use of a geographical indication, as an indication of the product's source, ...
(GI) tag for the variant called "Banglar rosogolla" (Bengali rasgulla) clarifying that the Bengal and Odisha variants were different in "both in colour, texture, taste, juice content and method of manufacturing."
In 2017, when West Bengal got its rosogolla's
Geographical indication
A geographical indication (GI) is a name or sign used on products which corresponds to a specific geographical location or origin (e.g., a town, region, or country). The use of a geographical indication, as an indication of the product's source, ...
status, the Registry office of India clarified that West Bengal was given GI status for Banglar rosogolla and Odisha can claim it too if they cite the place of origin of their variant along with colour, texture, taste, juice content and method of manufacturing.
Thus, in 2018, the government of Odisha applied for GI status for "Odisha Rasagola" (Odia Rasagola), which was approved by GI Registry of India and on July 29, 2019.
Names
The dessert is in
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
, and in
Odia and in
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
. Rasgulla is derived from the words ''ras'' ("juice") and ''gulla'' ("ball").
Other names for the dish include, Rasagulla, Rossogolla, Roshogolla, Rasagola,
Rasagolla, and Rasbhari or Rasbari (Nepali).
History
Claims of Puri temple tradition of Odisha (15th cen.)
According to historians of Odisha, the rasgulla originated in
Puri
Puri () is a coastal city and a municipality in the state of Odisha in eastern India. It is the district headquarters of Puri district and is situated on the Bay of Bengal, south of the state capital of Bhubaneswar. It is also known as '' ...
, as ''
khira mohana'', which later evolved into the Pahala rasgulla.
It has been traditionally offered as ''
bhog
''Bhog'' (n. 'pleasure' or 'delight', v. 'to end' or 'to conclude') is a term used in Hinduism and Sikhism. In Sikhism, it is used for observances that are fulfilled along with the reading of the concluding part of the Guru Granth Sahib. It can ...
'' to goddess
Lakshmi
Lakshmi (; , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism. She is the goddess of wealth, fortune, power, beauty, fertility and prosperity, and associated with ''Maya'' ("Illusion"). Alo ...
at
Jagannath Temple, Puri
The Jagannath Temple is an important Hindu temple dedicated to Jagannath, a form of Vishnu - one of the trinity of supreme divinity in Hinduism. Puri is in the state of Odisha, on the eastern coast of India. The present temple was rebuilt f ...
. According to the local legend, Laxmi gets upset because her husband
Lord Jagannath goes on a 9-day sojourn (the ''ratha yatra'') without her consent. So, she locks ''Jai Vijay Dwar'', one of the temple gates and prevents his convoy from re-entering the
sanctum sanctorum
The Latin phrase ''sanctum sanctorum'' is a translation of the Hebrew term ''קֹדֶשׁ הַקֳּדָשִׁים'' (Qṓḏeš HaQŏḏāšîm), literally meaning Holy of Holies, which generally refers in Latin texts to the holiest place of th ...
of the temple. To appease her, Jagannath offers her rasgullas. This ritual, known as ''Bachanika'', is part of the "Niladri Bije" (or "Arrival of the God") observance, which marks the return of the deities to the temple after the
Ratha Yatra
Ratha Yatra (), or Chariot festival, is any public procession in a chariot. The term particularly refers to the annual Ratha Yatra in Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal and other East Indian states, particularly the Odia festival that involve a ...
.
The Jagannath Temple scholars such as Laxmidhar Pujapanda and researchers like Jagabandhu Padhi state that the tradition has existed since the 12th century, when the present-day temple structure was first built.
Pujapanda states that the Niladri Bije tradition is mentioned in ''Niladri Mahodaya'', which is dated to the 18th century by Sarat Chandra Mahapatra.
According to Mahapatra, several temple scriptures, which are over 300 years old, provide the evidence of rasgulla offering ritual in Puri.
According to folklore, Pahala (a village on the outskirts of Odisha's capital
Bhubaneshwar) had a large number of cows. The village would produce excess milk, and the villagers would throw it away when it became spoilt. When a priest from the Jagannath Temple saw this, he taught them the art of
curdling
Curdling is the breaking of an emulsion or colloid into large parts of different composition through the physio-chemical processes of flocculation, creaming, and coalescence. Curdling is purposeful in the production of cheese curd and tofu; u ...
, including the recipe for rasagulla. Pahala thus went on to become the biggest market for chhena-based sweets in the area.
According to Asit Mohanty, an Odia research scholar on Jagannath cult and traditions, the sweet is mentioned as "Rasagola" in the 15th century text ''
Jagamohana Ramayana
Jagamohana Ramayana ( or, ଜଗମୋହନ ରାମାୟଣ) also known as Dandi Ramayana popularly across Odisha is an epic poem composed by the 15th-century poet Balarama Dasa. This work is a retelling of the Ramayana though not a direct tra ...
'' of Balaram Das. The text mentions Rasagola, along with other sweets found in Odisha. There is also mention of many other cheese made sweets like ''Chhenapuri'', ''Chhenaladu'' and ''Rasabali''. Another ancient text ''Premapanchamruta'' of Bhupati also mentions cheese (Chhena). It is being argued that cheese making process was well known before coming of Portuguese in Odisha.
According to the Bengali culinary historian Pritha Sen, in the mid-18th century, many
Odia cooks were employed in Bengali homes who arguably have introduced Rasgulla along with many other Odia dishes, but there is no substantial claim to prove that.
According to another theory, it is possible that the Bengali visitors to Puri might have carried the recipe for rasgulla back to Bengal in the nineteenth century. But no substantial claim regarding that was ever found by any historian or any one else.
This claim is contested by Bengali historians. According to food historians
K. T. Achaya and Chitra Banerji, there are no references to cheese (including chhena) in India before the 17th century. The milk-based sweets were mainly made up of
khoa
Khoa, khoya, khowa or mawa is a dairy food widely used in the cuisines of the Indian subcontinent, encompassing India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan. It is made of either dried whole milk or milk thickened by heating in an open iron pan. It is ...
, before the
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
influence led to introduction of cheese-based sweets. Therefore, the possibility of a cheese-based dish being offered at Jagannath Temple in the 12th century is highly unlikely. According to Nobin Chandra Das' descendant Animikh Roy and historian Haripada Bhowmik, rasgulla is not even mentioned as one of the ''chhappan bhog'' ("56 offerings") in the early records of the Temple; the name of the sweet was coined in Bengal. They also state that it would have been a blasphemy to offer something made from spoiled milk (chhena) to a deity.
However, Michael Krondl argues that Hindu dietary rules vary from region to region, and it is possible that this restriction did not exist in present-day Odisha. But at the same time, he could not give any substantial information to uphold the claim which he was forwarding.
Claims of invention in Bengal region (19th cen.)
Claims of invention in West Bengal
The spongy white rasgulla is believed to have been introduced in present-day
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...
in 1868 by a
Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
-based confectioner named
Nobin Chandra Das
Nobin Chandra Das (1845–1925) was a Bengali confectioner, entrepreneur, businessman and Bengali cultural icon in the second half of 19th and early 20th century. Widely known as the creator of the iconic Bengali sweetmeat "Rosogolla", a popula ...
. Das started making rasgulla by processing the mixture of
chhena and
semolina
Semolina is coarsely milled durum wheat mainly used in making couscous, and sweet puddings. The term semolina is also used to designate coarse millings of other varieties of wheat, and sometimes other grains (such as rice or corn) as well.
Ety ...
in boiling sugar
syrup
In cooking, a syrup (less commonly sirup; from ar, شراب; , beverage, wine and la, sirupus) is a condiment that is a thick, viscous liquid consisting primarily of a solution of sugar in water, containing a large amount of dissolved sugars ...
in contrast to the mixture sans semolina in the original rasgulla in his sweet shop located at
Sutanuti
Sutanuti was one of the three villages which were merged to form the city of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) in India. The other two villages were Gobindapur and Kalikata.
See also
* European colonies in India
Colonial India was the part of t ...
(present-day Baghbazar). His descendants claim that his recipe was an original, but according to another theory, he modified the traditional Odisha rasgulla recipe to produce this less perishable variant.
Yet another theory is that rasgulla was first prepared by someone else in Bengal, and Das only popularized it. In ''Banglar Khabar'' (1987), food historian Pranab Ray states that a man named Braja Moira had introduced rasgulla in his shop near
Calcutta High Court in 1866, two years before Das started selling the dish.
In 1906, Panchana Bandopadhyay wrote that rasgullla was invented in the 19th century by Haradhan Moira, a
Phulia
Phulia (also spelled Fulia) is a census town in the Santipur CD block of the Ranaghat subdivision in the Nadia district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is birthplace of 'Adi kavi' of Bengal Krittibas Ojha.
Geography
Location
Fulia ...
-based sweetmaker who worked for the Pal Chowdhurys of
Ranaghat
Ranaghat is a city and a municipality in Nadia district in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of the Ranaghat subdivision. It is compact but one of the densely populated cities of West Bengal. It is known for its handloom in ...
. According to ''Mistikatha'', a newspaper published by West Bengal Sweetmeat Traders Association, many other people prepared similar sweets under different names such as ''gopalgolla'' (prepared by Gopal Moira of Burdwan district), ''jatingolla'', ''bhabanigolla'' and ''rasugolla''.
Food historian Michael Krondl states that irrespective of its origin, the rasgulla likely predates Nobin Chandra Das. A sales brochure of the company run by Das' descendants also hints at this: "it is hard to tell whether or not cruder versions of similar sweets existed anywhere at that time. Even if they did, they did not match the quality of Nobin Chandra, and having failed to excite the Bengali palate, they slipped into oblivion."
Bhagwandas Bagla
Bhagwandas Bagla was the first Marwaris, Marwari Shekhawati millionare (crorepati). He was a very wealthy timber baron, timber merchant and owned several Saw Mills. Bhagwandas''ji'' was originally from Churu, Rajasthan, Churu, Rajasthan but proce ...
, a
Marwari businessman and a customer of Nobin Chandra Das, popularized the Bengali rasgulla beyond the shop's locality by ordering huge amounts.
Claims of Bangladeshi origin
Portuguese settlers made sweet curd cheese and
Sandesh Sandesh may refer to:
* Sandesh (confectionery), a Bengali sweet prepared in Bangladesh and India
* ''Sandesh'' (magazine), a children's magazine in West Bengal
* ''Sandesh'' (Indian newspaper), a Gujarati newspaper
* ''Sandesh'' (Pakistani newspa ...
-like confections from milk in the sixteenth century, which they brought with them to
Bengal
Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...
. Bengali housewives then improvised the recipe. Late veteran recipe writer and food connoisseur Shawkat Osman told
BBC Bangla
BBC Bangla ( bn, বিবিসি বাংলা) is a Bengali language service of the BBC World Service.
History
BBC Bangla was launched on 11 October 1941 with a 15-minute programme under the BBC World Service. BBC Bangla's headquarters us ...
that ancestors of
Nobin Chandra Das
Nobin Chandra Das (1845–1925) was a Bengali confectioner, entrepreneur, businessman and Bengali cultural icon in the second half of 19th and early 20th century. Widely known as the creator of the iconic Bengali sweetmeat "Rosogolla", a popula ...
, the maker of Rasgulla, were originally from
Barisal
Barisal ( or ; bn, বরিশাল, ), officially known as Barishal, is a major city that lies on the banks of the Kirtankhola river in south-central Bangladesh. It is the largest city and the administrative headquarter of both Barisal Di ...
and they lived near
Patuakhali
Patuakhali ( bn, পটুয়াখালী ''Potuakhali'') is a town and district headquarter of Patuakhali District located on the southern bank of Laukathi river in the division of Barisal in Bangladesh. It is the administrative headquar ...
. It is believed that the main origin was formulated in
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
and then became popular in
Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
.
Modern popularity
In 1930, the introduction of
vacuum packing
Vacuum packing is a method of packaging that removes air from the package prior to sealing. This method involves placing items in a plastic film package, removing air from inside and sealing the package. Shrink film is sometimes used to have a t ...
by Nobin Chandra's son
Krishna Chandra Das led to the availability of canned Rasgullas, which made the dessert popular outside Kolkata, and subsequently, outside India.
Krishna Chandra's son
Sarada Charan Das
Sarada Charan Das (15 May 1906 – 6 September 1992) was an Indian Bengali polymath, scientist, confectioner, entrepreneur and businessman. He was the youngest son and successor of Krishna Chandra Das ( K.C. Das) and the grandson of the legend ...
established the K.C. Das Pvt Ltd company in 1946.
Sarada Charan's younger, estranged son Debendra Nath established
K.C. Das Grandsons
K.C. Das Grandson Pvt. Ltd. is an Indian confectionery famous for its sweet and snacks. It is especially known for the white spongy form of rossogolla in Bengal, invented by the founder's ancestor, Nobin Chandra Das.
History
For details se ...
in 1956.
Today, canned rasgullas are available throughout India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, as well as in South Asian grocery stores outside the Indian subcontinent. In
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...
, Rasgulla became popular under the name ''Rasbari''.
The Indian space agency,
ISRO is developing dehydrated rasgullas and other dishes for Indian astronauts in its planned manned missions.
In 2015, the Odisha government initiated a move to get
Geographical indication
A geographical indication (GI) is a name or sign used on products which corresponds to a specific geographical location or origin (e.g., a town, region, or country). The use of a geographical indication, as an indication of the product's source, ...
(GI) status for the rasagulla made in Pahala.
On 30 July, the people of Odisha celebrated "Rasagola Dibasa" ("Rasgulla Day") to reaffirm Odisha as the place of the dish's origin.
In August,
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...
decided to legally contest Odisha's move to obtain GI Status.
In 2015 The odisha state government constituted three committees to claim over the Rasgulla . The committees submitted their interim report to the government. Noted journalist and food researcher
Bhakta Tripathy and a member of the committee had submitted dossier containing historical evidence of Rasgulla origin in
Odisha
Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...
. The Science and Technology department of the West Bengal government also started the process to get its own GI status for the dessert.
Rasagola Dibasa
On 30 July 2015, on the day of "Niladri Bije", a social media campaign was started by using a hashtag #RasagolaDibasa and it later became a mainstream celebration as the maiden day to celebrate Rasgulla's origin to be Odisha.
Odia newspaper
Sambad
Sambad is an Indian newspaper of Odia language which is published daily from Bhubaneswar, Odisha. It is one of the largest circulated Odia newspapers in Odisha. It is published from the capital city of Bhubaneswar, as well as from Cuttack, Berha ...
and
FM radio Radio Choklate
Radio Choklate 104 FM broadcasting, FM is a part of the Sambad Group (Eastern Media Limited). Radio Choklate provides service in Odisha, predominantly in the regional Odia language along with Hindi and English. It airs Odia and Hindi music, cove ...
in collaboration with the confectioners of Pahala celebrated a rasgulla exhibition-cum-awareness event in Bhubaneswar. Sand artist
Sudarshan Patnaik made a sand sculpture in
Puri Beach
Puri Beach or the Golden beach is a beach in the city of Puri in the state of Odisha, India. It is on the shore of the Bay of Bengal. It is known for being a tourist attraction and a Hindu sacred place. The beach is the site of the annual Pur ...
depicting "Niladri Bije" and Jagannath offering rasgulla to Lakshmi.
It has been agreed upon to celebrate the Rasagola Dibasa every year on the tithi of Niladri Bije in the lunar calendar. In the year 2016, the Rasagola Dibasa has been celebrated on 17 July.
Rosogolla Utsob
To pay tribute to the inventor of rosogolla, ‘
Nobin Chandra Das
Nobin Chandra Das (1845–1925) was a Bengali confectioner, entrepreneur, businessman and Bengali cultural icon in the second half of 19th and early 20th century. Widely known as the creator of the iconic Bengali sweetmeat "Rosogolla", a popula ...
’, and to promote
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
claim of authenticity over Rosogolla, from 2017 The government of
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...
has decided to celebrate "Rosogolla Utsob" every year on 28 December. And in 2017 'Rosogolla festival', Bengali confectioners prepared world's largest Rasgulla which weighted 9 kilograms. To celebrate 150 years of Rosogolla's invention, The government of West Bengal had also organized a 3-day grand ‘Rosogolla festival’ from 28 December 2018 to 30 December 2018.
Preparation
To prepare rasgulla, the cheese (chhena) mixture is formed into small balls. These balls are then simmered in a sugar syrup. It can also be prepared using a
pressure cooker
Pressure cooking is the process of cooking food under high pressure steam and water or a water-based cooking liquid, in a sealed vessel known as a ''pressure cooker''. High pressure limits boiling, and creates higher cooking temperatures which ...
or an
oven. While serving add a drop of rose water (only organic and edible type of rose water, not rose perfume or synthetic flavors) to enhance the flavor and taste.
File:Divided Chhena - Rasgulla Preparation - Digha - East Midnapore - 2015-05-02 9556.JPG , Chhena divided into balls
File:Boiling Rasgulla - Digha - East Midnapore - 2015-05-02 9561.JPG , Chenna balls being boiled
File:Gopal Maishal - Rasgulla Preparation - Digha - East Midnapore - 2015-05-02 9579.JPG , Rasgulla being taken out of the syrup
Variations
The ''Pahal Rasagola'' from the Pahala area (located between the cities of
Bhubaneswar
Bhubaneswar (; ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Odisha. The region, especially the old town, was historically often depicted as ''Ekamra Kshetra'' (area (''kshetra'') adorned with mango trees (''ekamra'')). Bhubaneswar is ...
and
Cuttack
Cuttack (, or officially Kataka ) in Odia is the former capital and the second largest city in the Indian state of Odisha. It is the headquarters of the Cuttack district. The name of the city is an anglicised form of ''Kataka'' which literally ...
) is also popular in India.
File:Rasgulla - Kolkata 2011-08-02 4547.JPG, Rasgullas from Kolkata, India
File:Red color rasagola from Pahala, Khurda district, Odisha, India.jpg, Reddish rasgullas from Pahala, Odisha
File:Bikalkar rasagola.gif, Bikali Kar Rasagola from Salepur, Cuttack, Odisha
File:Rasagola Odia cuisine.jpg, Rasagola from Bhubaneswar, Odisha
File:The famous Indian syrupy dessert Rasgulla, from West Bengal.jpg, Sponge Rasgulla within a container
File:Bengali orange rasgulla.jpg, ''Kamalabhog
Khira mohan ( od, କ୍ଷୀର ମୋହନ) is a creamish dessert popular in Odisha . It is made from chhena and syrup made of sugar. The descendant of ''khira mohana'' probably was Odia Rasgulla the food historians from Odisha suggest that ...
'', an orange-flavoured Bengali rasgulla
File:Baked Rasgulla.JPG, Baked rasgulla - a Bengali variation
File:Ishwar Rasogola.JPG, Rasagola from Kalahandi,Odisha
File:চমচম.jpg, Rasgulla and Gulab Jamun
Derivatives and similar desserts
Along with
chhena gaja and
chhena poda, rasgulla is one of three traditional
Odia chhena desserts. Due to rasgulla becoming associated with
Bengali cuisine
Bengali cuisine ( bn, বাঙ্গালী রন্ধনপ্রণালী) is the culinary style of Bengal, a region in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent encompassing Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura ...
, the Odisha Milk Federation has tried to popularize chhena poda as the signature Odia dessert.
Nutrition
Typically, a 100-gram serving of rasgulla contains 186 calories, out of which about 153 calories are in the form of carbohydrates. It also contains about 1.85 grams of fat and 4 grams of protein.
[Nutrition Information For Rasgulla](_blank)
Livestrong.Com. Retrieved on 6 December 2012.
Geographical indication (GI) tag
![GI_Status_certificate_of_Odisha_Rasagola](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/GI_Status_certificate_of_Odisha_Rasagola.jpg)
In 2015, West Bengal applied for a
Geographical Indication
A geographical indication (GI) is a name or sign used on products which corresponds to a specific geographical location or origin (e.g., a town, region, or country). The use of a geographical indication, as an indication of the product's source, ...
(GI) status for "Banglar Rasogolla" (Bengali Rasgulla). The Government clarified that there was no conflict with Odisha, and its application was only for a specific variant which was different in "both in colour, texture, taste, juice content and method of manufacturing" from the variant produced in Odisha. And the same goes for the Odisha Rasgulla, which can be claimed as a variant of the Bengali Rasagulla.
On 14 November 2017, the
GI Registry of India granted West Bengal the GI status for Banglar Rasogolla.
The GI Registrar office at
Chennai
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
later specifically clarified that West Bengal was given GI status only for the Bengali version of Rasgulla ("Banglar Rasogolla"), not for the sweet's origin. The office also stated that Odisha had not by then applied for any GI tag, but it could also get Odisha Rasgulla's GI tag by presenting the necessary evidence.
In 2018 Odisha had applied for GI status in Chennai GI Registry.
On 29 July 2019 the GI Registry of India granted Odisha the GI status for Odisha Rasagola.
See also
*
Bangladeshi cuisine
Bangladeshi cuisine ( bn, বাংলাদেশের রান্না) is the national cuisine of Bangladesh. Bangladeshi cuisine has been shaped by the diverse history and river-line geography of Bangladesh. The country has a tropical m ...
*
Bengali cuisine
Bengali cuisine ( bn, বাঙ্গালী রন্ধনপ্রণালী) is the culinary style of Bengal, a region in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent encompassing Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura ...
*
Dharwad pedha
Dharwad peda ( kn, ಧಾರವಾಡ ಪೇಡ) is an Indian sweet delicacy unique to the state of Karnataka, India. It derives its name from the city of Dharwad in Karnataka.This sweet's history is around 175 years old. Dharwad peda has been ac ...
*
List of Indian sweets and desserts
This is a list of Indian sweets and desserts, also called ''mithai'', a significant element in Indian cuisine. Indians are known for their unique taste and experimental behavior when it comes to food. Many Indian desserts are fried foods made wi ...
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Mysore pak
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Odia cuisine
Odia cuisine is the cuisine of the Indian state of Odisha. Compared to other regional Indian cuisines, Odia cuisine uses less oil and is less spicy while nonetheless remaining flavourful. Rice is the staple food of this region. Mustard oil is ...
References
{{Cheese dishes
Indian cuisine
Bengali cuisine
Bangladeshi cuisine
West Bengal cuisine
Indian desserts
Bengali desserts
Sweets of West Bengal
Bangladeshi desserts
Geographical indications in West Bengal
Indian cheese dishes
Nepalese cuisine
Odia cuisine
Mauritian cuisine
Vegetarian dishes of India
Geographical indications in Odisha
Semolina dishes
Cheese desserts