Sweet Surrender

• Bengal, the ‘sweet’ capital of India, excels in creative confectionaries. The generic name monda-mithai was given to Bengal sweets. While monda was khoya (milk solid) based, mithai used flour as the base material. Additional ingredients used were jiggery, coconut, puffed rice etc. The mention of Bengal sweets can be traced back to the medieval literature Mangal kavya. 
• Today, the iconic Bengali ‘mishti’ is mostly based on chhana (curdled milk, cottage cheese) as opposed to the khoya used in other parts of India. Assorted flavors are added to chhana giving rise to a plethora of sweets each renowned for its distinctive taste, odor, shape, color and texture. It is believed that the art of chhana making was introduced by the Portuguese settlers. 
• The six earliest sweet makers or moiras who left a permanent mark on the sweet canvas of Bengal were Paran Chandra Nag, Mahesh Chandra Dey, Nobin Chandra Das, Dwariknath Ghosh, Asutosh Sen and Ganguram Chaurasia.

Bhim Chandra Nag – Founded by Paran Chandra Nag in 1826 near Bowbazar market, this iconic shop was later handed over to Asutosh Chandra Nag. Initially famous for the quality of the sandesh, many new varieties like sakuntala sandesh, nebru sandesh, badshah bhog, paritripti, dilkhush, peshawari and others were introduced. Rani Rashmoni is said to have purchased 15 kg of the abar khabo sweet daily for offering to the Bhavatarini deity of Dakshineshwar. The iconic fried sweet ledikeni is said to have been invented on the birthday of Lady Canning, wife of the first Viceroy of British India. Several visionaries of Bengal were patrons here.

Girish Chandra Dey and Nakur Chandra Nandy – Located at 56 Ramdulal Street, Girish Chandra Dey and Nokur Chandra Nandy is a famous sweet shop intricately woven into Bengali culture and cuisine since 1844. Nakur Chandra Nandy hailed from Janai in Hoogly district and came to Calcutta as son-in-law of renowned confectioner of Simla, Girish Chandra Dey. The later had inherited the shop from his father Mahesh Dey. The signature items include talsash, jalbhara, parijat, dilkhush, monohara, singara sandesh and other varieties. This shop has catered to the taste buds of Satyajit Ray, Uttam Kumar, Rajib Gandhi, Narendra Modi, the Bachchans and Hillary Clinton among several others. Upgradation and innovation of sweets are a salint feature here.

Punti Ram (College Street) set up in 1852 keeps tickling the Bengali taste bud with Dalpuri, chholar daal, kochuri and Raj Bhog that in Bengali means royal meal. Other delicacies include sweets such as Abar Khabo and Sonpapri, Rosogolla, Lyangcha, Komolabhog, Kheer Chop, Kaju Barfi and Dorbesh.

K. C. Das – The distinctive shop at Esplanade crossing is a prominent thread in the sweet fabric of Bengal. This shop is credited to have invented the rasogolla in 1868, which after a long drawn tussle, received the GI of Banglar rasogolla in 2017. This sweet was popularized by a Marwari businessman, Rai Bahadur Bhagwandas Bagla. Nobin Chandra Das was the founder of this business after two previous attempts at Jorasankho (1864) and Bagbazar (1866). The abar khabo sweet was a favorite of Maharani Swarnamoyee Debi of Cossimbazar and Ma Sarada Devi was particularly fond of dedo sandesh. After his death in 1925, the reigns of the shop were handed over to his wife Kshirodomoni Devi, the granddaughter of Bhola Moira. In 1930, Krishna Chandra Das Confectioner was founded and packaging of rasogollas in vacuum cans was started. The present set up at Esplanade was opened in 1935 by Sarada Charan Das in his father’s name. To him goes the credit of introducing card board boxes with butter paper lining as opposed to the traditional leaf packing. Amrita kumbha sandesh was invented by him. Savoury items were introduced later.

Dwarik’s Grandson- Dwariknath Ghosh hailing from Howrah set up his shop at Shyambazar in 1885 named as Dwariknath Ghosh and Sons. Later on, from 1920s, branches were opened all over Calcutta and were collectively termed as Dwarik’s Grandsons. People cherish chitrakoot, darbesh, rajbhog, kanchagolla etc from here.

Sen Mahasay- In 1885, Asutosh Sen founded Sen Mahasay on Shibdas Bhaduri Street, Fariapukur. Later on it was taken up by his nephew Nilmoni Sen. On 15^th August 1947; the shop introduced Jai Hind, a tricolored sandesh which it prepares on days of national significance. Today several branches are present all over Kolkata.

Ganguram- Founded by Ganguram Chaurasia in 1892, the first shop was at Vivekananda Road, Maniktala. The shop was set up by the patronage of Raja Kamala Prasad Mukherjee, the employer of Chaurasia. Later branches have spread all over Kolkata. Among several other sweets, Milk crown, Indrani and labongo lotika are famous here.

Balaram Mulick and Radharaman Mullick - Ganesh Chandra Mullick came to Calcutta from Konnagar in 1880. He purchased a land from the famous Harlalkar family at Bhowanipore to set up his shop. Korapak and Nolen Gur items became famous and Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee was a great admirer of "Guli Sandesh". The tradition of Ganesh Mullick was carried forward by his brother Balaram and his son Radharaman, as the confectioners became famous for their fresh and quality sweetmeats.

Other traditional sweet shops

Adi Haridas Modak Mishtanna Bhandar (1780, Shyambazar)

Naba Krishna Guin (1809, Bowbazar)

Makhan Lal Das and Sons (1827, Rabindra Sarani)

Nalin Chandra Das and Sons (1841, Rabindra Sarani)

Nobin Chandra Das (1864, Sovabazar)

Gupta Brothers (1888, Lala Lajpat Ray Sarani)

Jayasree (approx. 1890, Bowbazar)

Chittaranjan Mishtanna Bhandar (1907, Shyambazar)

Amrit (1912, Shyambazar)

Bhabatarini Mishtanna Bhandar (1952, Shyambazar)

Mithai (1995, Park Circus)

 

References:

A taste of time by Mohona Kanjilal

https://balarammullick.com/cms/legacy

https://www.shoestringtravel.in/2019/07/heritage-sweet-shops-in-kolkata.html