By Bizodisha Bureau, July 29, 2019: The Odisha government has finally won the rights over ‘Odisha rasagola’ with rasgulla getting geographical indication (GI) tag – a year after West Bengal walked away with recognition for rasgola.

Now the Odisha Small Industries Corporation Limited (OSIC) will be the registered holder of Odisha Rasgola’s GI tag, and it will enjoy all legal and intellectual protection available for the product, whose uniqueness to Odisha, its proof or origin and antiquity tied to boundaries of Odisha have all been accepted by the Government of India’s GI registry, which issued the certification in its latest journal.

OSIC has named all the 30 districts in Odisha as geographical areas entitled to use the GI tag and said Odisha Rasagola is associated with the world-renowned Puri Jagannath Temple. As per the rituals of “Niladri Bije”, the rasagola bhoga is traditionally offered to Devi Lakshmi on behalf of Shree Jagannath. As per the Record of Rights, this is the duty of Bhitarachha Sebaka, it said.

“Odisha rasagola is a sweet from the state of Odisha, made with chhena cooked in sugar syrup, which is very soft to feel, juicy and non‐chewy in consistency and can be swallowed without teeth pressure. Colour development of Odisha rasagola is very specific, where without addition of external colour, various intensity-coloured rasagolas are prepared using the principle of caramalisation of sugar with specific methods of preparation. Generally, the Odisha rasagola is white in colour with round shape (non‐ spherical) but off white rasagolas in various shades are prepared by cooking rasagola at 110 degrees C for about 40 minutes in which caramalisation of sugar takes place giving the off white colour,” said the report.

As for Odisha rasagola’s uniqueness, the report said the sweet is famous for its distinct quality, features and characteristics. The impact of evolutionary process and technology infusion over hundreds of years has led to developing a unique rasagola called Odisha rasagola, which has been influenced by its geography and cultural anthropogeny to a great extent in developing this unique product,” it said.

The reference of rasagola is found in the late 15th century Odia Ramayana written by Balaram Das. Das’s Ramayana is known as Dandi Ramayana or Jagamohana Ramayana as it was composed and sung at the Jagamohana of the Puri Temple.

In its ‘Ajodhya Kanda’, one comes across elaborate descriptions of chhena and chhena‐based products including rasagola. According to the description, after Lord Rama left for the forest, Bharata and Satrughna went to bring him back and on their way, accepted the hospitality of sage Bharadwaj. The sage served them and their followers various types of food and delicacies which included dudha chhena (cottage cheese prepared from milk) and the products from chhena namely chhenapuri, chhenaladu, rasagola and rasabali.