Rasgulla—the ethnic Indian sweetmeat delicacy and its evolutionary journey through contemporary research

Abstract

West Bengal and Odisha, two distinguished provinces of India, are consecrated with prosperous animal resources. Both territories have substantially affluent traditional dairy-based products. Rasgulla is one of such kind of traditional Indian dessert made from milk casein with attractive white colour having a spongy, porous structure and spherical shape, popular all over the world for its taste, flavour and unique texture. It is mainly originated in the West Bengal and Odisha, through a cascade of ethnic gastronomic phenomena. Both the traditional and cutting-edge practice of rasgulla preparation has its own impact on the sensory attributes of the product. Researchers’ approach to improve textural, colour and sensory qualities of this astonishing dairy product has an appulse on overall acceptability of the product. Different types of milk and coagulant have a tremendous effect on the final quality of the product in terms of nutritional, textural and palatability characteristics of rasgulla. To make this traditional sweetmeat more nutritious, fortification and enrichment of functional features have been studied. Anti-diabetic rasgulla has been prepared to conquer the diabetes mellitus through re-modulation in the extent of sugar used to process this sweetmeat. Shelf-life of casein based products is one of the main concerns for researchers, due to abundance of ample amount of nutrients for optimum growth of microorganisms, along with the warm and humid condition of Indian subcontinent which accelerates the microbial propagation. Though the product has immense nutritional and sensory idiosyncrasy as well as folk medicinal importance, it is yet to be explored in coetaneous medical sciences.

The Essence of Bengal’s Ethnic Sweetmeats: An Exploratory Journey through History, Tradition, and Culture

“…Te Mughals too infuenced Bengali customs by infusing the use of spices and fruits (especially mangoes) in Bengali dishes, especially in sweets. In this way, by the end of the 18 th century, the orthodox Bengali sweets were progressively getting a conspicuous form [7].…”

“…Te ethnic sweetmeats were analyzed for their carbohydrate, protein, fat, moisture, and ash content as per our previous experimental procedures [7,10]. In total, thirty-eight ethnic sweetmeats were considered and purchased from the respective sweetmeat shops.…”