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Kolkata is virtually the ‘sweet capital’ of the country with an astonishing variety of sweets. Even then, it is the rosogolla that truly holds its own. Indeed, who can resist the melt-in the mouth white temptation floating in light syrup? Yet, the love affair of the Bengalis with the rosogolla started almost by accident. It was during the British colonial times that rosogolla suddenly appeared on Bengal’s platter. To trace its origin one has to travel to the Bagbazar area in north Kolkata, the seat of traditional ‘Bangali’ culture. It was here that Nobin Chandra Das, the man who invented the rosogolla, lived more than a century ago. He was poor and was supporting his widowed mother with his meagre income selling sweets from a ramshackle shop. Little did he know that one day he would become a legend, the forefather of the famous K.C. Das chain of sweetshops. At first, Nobin Chandra worked as an assistant in a sweetmeat shop. He was always bubbling with ideas and experimented constantly to turn out something new. This landed him in trouble with the proprietor and he was sacked. After two years, he opened a shop in the Chitpur area nearby. He belonged to an age when Bengali mishti meant the ubiquitous sondesh, made with chainna or cottage cheese and sugar. As was the trend, Nobin Chandra also made sondesh but he itched to do something new. Then he had a brainwave. Why not use the same chhenna to make a sweet boiled in sugar syrup? He failed many times as the cheese crumbled once it was put in the syrup. However, he continued doggedly and through trial and error, the rosogolla was born one day in 1868. But the sweet was not an instant hit. People did not even know that something new had arrived in Bengal’s gourmand horizon. For the record, rosogolla was the first sweet variety in the country to be dipped in sugar syrup. Later, the concept was adopted by confectioners from other parts of the country to turn out their own specialities. Luck visited Nobin Chandra in the form of a businessman, Bhagwandas Bagla. On that particular day, while enjoying a joy ride by the riverside with his family his son became thirsty. As it happened, the carriage stopped in front of Nobin Chandra’s shop looking for glass of water. As per Bengali custom, one never offers water without something sweet. Nobin Chandra gave the little boy water with a rosogolla. The child loved it and told his father how delicious it was. Bhagwandas also tried it and was won over instantly. He bought the whole lot for his family and friends. Soon, word to mouth publicity did the rest to make rosogolla much sought after. And the rest, to use a clich`E9, is history. Nobin Chandra’s son Krishna Chandra Das expanded the business with pioneering zeal. He set up the first shop, Krishna Chandra Das Confectioner in 1930. It became K. C. Das before long and this became a brand name for the rosogolla too. Krishna Chandra also introduced the canned rosogolla. K.C. Das’s youngest son Sarada Charan opened new shops through the city and also changed the method of preparing the sweet. He designed a manufacturing process which used steam to replace the traditional coal/wood burning stoves and conventional kadahis. At the K. C. Das factory at Bagbazar, great care is taken to make the process of manufacturing hygienic without the use of hands. The factory turns out about 15,000 pieces a day. Today, every sweetmeat shop in Kolkata worth its name has to have the rosogolla in its repertoire. The sweet’s reputation has spread even abroad as the tinned variety is easily available in supermarkets. Nobin Chandra Das’s dream of doing something new has become more than true.
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The sponginess of the rosogolla
sets its standard in quality
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