Winter is still to come, but ‘nolen gur’ days are here

KOLKATA: Amidst the explosion of Diwali offerings in the city, the seasonal ‘debut’ of a favourite genre of Bengali sweets may pass all but unnoticed. ‘Nolen gur’, the jaggery that flavours Bengal’s winter, has been a much-loved ingredient in its sweet creations for more than a century, and Kali Puja presents that auspicious occasion for its launch.
“It’s a tradition that dates back a long, long way, and we have maintained it through many generations,” says Pronab Nandy of Girish Chandra Dey & Nakur Chandra Nandy, the famous sweet shop that started its journey in Hatibagan in 1844.“In fact, we used to have such a beginning on Mahalaya for coconut-based sweets but now they are available t/7hrough the year.”
The ‘nolen gur’ items come to the sale counters only after the first lot has been offered to the goddess at various temples. An almost identical custom is adhered to by almost every other Bengali sweet shop.
“We make just about enough of it to send as offerings to Kalighat, Firingi Kalibari and a couple of other temples, and to cater to some of our old customers who too make offerings of ‘nolen-gurer mishti’ to the goddess,” says Pradip Nag of Bhim Chandra Nag, the sweet shop that opened at Bowbazar in 1826. “We prefer to wait for the ‘gur’ to get better before we put the full range of ‘nolen gur’ sweets on our counters.
With this popular jaggery acquiringbetter taste and flavour with the dip in temperatures, most shops release only a limited number of items and keep adding as the season goes deeper into the winter.
Tapan Kumar Das, a sixth-generation partner at 184-year-old sweet shop Nalin Chandra Das & Sons, says they are launching a fairly wide range of ‘nolen gur’ products “but it will get really impressive once winter sets in”. “Almost 80% of our products will have a touch of ‘nolen gur’,” said the 64-year-old after having again kept alive the practice of sending sweets to the Thanthania Kalibari. “Earlier, the first offerings used to be made at Dakshineswar,” he added.
That is where Banchharam’s ‘nolen gur’ sweets were headed on Thursday. “We also offer them at Thanthania, which my father used to visit every Saturday,” said Subhajit Ghosh, one of the directors of the sweet chain that opened in 1975. “No, we haven’t copied the tradition of older sweet shops; I’m following what my father used to do since our shops opened. We always look for an auspicious day and Kali Puja, which is usually at the doorstep of winter, is an obvious choice,” he added.
‘Kancha golla’, ‘Moushumi’, ‘Narom paker jaal bhora’ are usually among start-up products while items like ‘Mohini’ and ‘Monohara’ join the menu when the winter chill lifts the quality of the juice from the date palm trunk, and that in turn, lends that magic to the ‘nolen gur’.
‘Rashomalai’, ‘baharu’, ‘abar khabo’, ‘gurer rasogolla’, ‘kora paker guli’, ‘sank sandesh’, baked sandesh, ‘amrita monda’, truffle sandesh’… There will an explosion of ‘nolen gur’ products,
“It’s just as well that non-Bengalis too are acquiring a love for ‘ gur’; we’ve actually had to make such sweets that were sent to Laksmi Mittal in London,” said Sudip Mullick of Balaram Mullick & Radharaman Mullick, sweets makers whose roots go back a century but are not averse to innovations.
The ‘Nolen gur’ invasion is all set to begin.