State govt looking to produce high-quality rosogollas & pantuas to cater to global market

Kolkata: The state government will soon start producing famous sweetmeats of Bengal like rosogolla and pantua and the products will hit the market under the Mother Diary brand.

The state government has collaborated with the Food Technology department of Jadavpur University to make the products popular globally. The Bengali sweets are popular in many Western countries but because of low shelf life they cannot be marketed internationally.

It may be recalled that some years ago private sweet shop owners, in league with the Food Technology department of Jadavpur University and the Food Processing department of the state government, had made similar moves to add new preservatives aimed at increasing the shelf life of the sweetmeats.

A senior official of the state Animal Resources Development department said sweet dishes like mishti doi and rabri are very popular among foreigners but they do not take these items with them after visiting India because of their poor shelf life.

Swapan Debnath, state minister for ARD said that milk, ice cream, pera and payesh made of gobindobhog rice produced by Mother Dairy have become quite popular.

Experiments with rosogolla and pantua are underway. Initial testing batches of both have been produced and now attempts are being made to improve their quality.

Machines have been installed at the Mother Dairy plant to produce the sweetmeats. The delicacies will be made available in packets containing 2, 5 or 10 rosogollas

and pantuas. Each piece will cost Rs 10 and the packaging will be attractive to woo customers.

It may be mentioned that after Bengal got the GI tag for rosogolla, various experiments are being carried out and now coloured rosogollas are available in the market as well. The state government also held Rosogolla Fair to popularise the sweetmeat in 2018.