Comilla’s mouth-watering roshomalai could be country’s next GI

The first thing that pops up in every Bangladeshi’s mind upon hearing the name Comilla is ‘roshomalai’, which is one of the most popular sweetmeat items of the country. Being a pride for Comilla as well as Bangladesh, the wholesome item’s appeal has won hearts far and wide, reports UNB.

From house guests to state-level foreign guests—roshomalai is a must on the list of food items while treating them.

However, many are unaware of the origins of this sweetmeat, which was initially known as ‘Khirbhog’.

‘Khirbhog’ was first introduced by the Ghosh community of Comilla, the then Tripura, in the early 19th century, who used to create small sweetmeats from dry ‘Bhog’ and dipped them into ‘kheer’ made by condensing pure milk. Gradually, the item got popular as ‘roshomalai’, and became a tradition here.

During the time of East Pakistan, two brothers—Khanindra Sen and Manindra Sen—from Khariala of Brahmanbaria founded the ‘Matree Bhandar’ at Monoharpur in Comilla and started making ‘roshomalai’ and selling them. Soon the name of the sweetmeat along with the name of the shop started blowing around the city.

Asked about the process of making the special item, the sweet makers of the Matree Bhandar, the first-ever shop of ‘roshomalai’ in Comilla, said, first 40kg of milk is condensed into 13-14 kg which makes the perfect ‘kheer’ for the sweetmeat. Later, small balls of sweets are added to it. When cooled, the taste of the entire sweet dish reaches the perfection.

However, the taste and price of ‘roshomalai’ depends on the density of its kheer, they added.

Though, Matree Bhandar is the most popular and trusted shop for ‘roshomalai’, many are using this name and selling adulterated sweets at cheaper rates.

There are many forged shops and dishonest sellers who use low quality milk powder and mix flour with milk curd, which lowers the cost of production as well as decreases the quality and taste. And there is a chance that roshomalai’s popularity gets decreased because of this.

In spite of these cheap ‘roshomalai’ shops growing here and there of Comilla, Bhagobati, Pora Bhandar, Sital Bhandar, Porabari of Kandirpar, Jenis, Jaljog as well as the originator shop Matree Bhandar are famous for their good quality ‘roshomalai’.

Every day, the crowds of roshomalai lovers can be seen in these shops to buy this traditional sweetmeat.

Recently, a process to get Geographic Indication (GI) registration for this traditional item has started. The famous mouthwatering sweetmeat is now waiting for its global recognition.

 

Comillas mouth-watering roshomalai could be countrys next GI

The first thing that pops up in every Bangladeshis mind upon hearing the name Comilla is roshomalai, which is one of the most popular sweetmeat items of the country. Being a pride for Comilla as well as Bangladesh, the wholesome items appeal has won hearts far and wide, reports UNB. From house guests to state-level foreign guestsroshomalai is a must on the list of food items while treating them. However, many are unaware of the origins of this sweetmeat, which was initially known as Khirbhog. Khirbhog was first introduced by the Ghosh community of Comilla, the then Tripura, in the early 19th century, who used to create small sweetmeats from dry Bhog and dipped them into kheer made by condensing pure milk. Gradually, the item got popular as roshomalai, and became a tradition here. During the time of East Pakistan, two brothersKhanindra Sen and Manindra Senfrom Khariala of Brahmanbaria founded the Matree Bhandar at Monoharpur in Comilla and started making roshomalai and selling them. Soon the name of the sweetmeat along with the name of the shop started blowing around the city. Asked about the process of making the special item, the sweet makers of the Matree Bhandar, the first-ever shop of roshomalai in Comilla, said, first 40kg of milk is condensed into 13-14 kg which makes the perfect kheer for the sweetmeat. Later, small balls of sweets are added to it. When cooled, the taste of the entire sweet dish reaches the perfection. However, the taste and price of roshomalai depends on the density of its kheer, they added. Though, Matree Bhandar is the most popular and trusted shop for roshomalai, many are using this name and selling adulterated sweets at cheaper rates. There are many forged shops and dishonest sellers who use low quality milk powder and mix flour with milk curd, which lowers the cost of production as well as decreases the quality and taste. And there is a chance that roshomalais popularity gets decreased because of this. In spite of these cheap roshomalai shops growing here and there of Comilla, Bhagobati, Pora Bhandar, Sital Bhandar, Porabari of Kandirpar, Jenis, Jaljog as well as the originator shop Matree Bhandar are famous for their good quality roshomalai. Every day, the crowds of roshomalai lovers can be seen in these shops to buy this traditional sweetmeat. Recently, a process to get Geographic Indication (GI) registration for this traditional item has started. The famous mouthwatering sweetmeat is now waiting for its global recognition.