Bhubaneswar/Kendrapara: Kendrapara’s famous Rasabali, one of the heritage sweetmeats of Odisha, received the prestigious Geographical Indication (GI) tag, Tuesday. The Kendrapara Rasabali Mistanna Nirmata Sangha in the district was the first to demand GI tag for the delicacy in 2021. The district collector of Kendrapara shared the information on his social media account Tuesday. Rasabali finds its place among the chhapan bhog at Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri. The sweet is also offered to the presiding deity at Lord Baladevjew Temple in Kendrapara from where it is believed to have originated. The delicacy is made by soaking deep-fried flattened reddish-brown patties of chhena (farmer cheese) in thickened, sweetened milk (rabri). Flattening the chhena into palm-sized patties is done in order to allow those absorb the milk more readily. The thickened milk is also usually lightly seasoned with crushed cardamoms. Rasabali of Kendrapara was among the list of five products from Odisha which was taken up for discussion to accord GI tag at a conference of Geographical Indication Registry. The date molasses of Gajapati, silver filigree work of Cuttack, Kai Chatni of Mayurbhanj, Magaj Ladoo of Dhenkanal, and Rasabali of Kendrapara districts were the nominees in fray for the GI tag.
Earlier, several organisations in Kendrapara had raised the demand for a GI tag to the district’s famous Rasabali. A delegation from Odisha, led by Rajya Sabha MP Subhash Singh along with Munna Khan and Mamata Mohanta, had met Union minister Piyush Goyal and submitted a memorandum demanding GI tag for Rasabali. The memorandum had mentioned the history and present status of the dessert and claimed that according GI tag to it will boost the economic growth in Kendrapara district. Researchers Niranjan Mekap and Anita Sabat said that Rasabali as a sweetmeat was in use since medieval times during King Anangabhima Deva’s reign.
During his rule, 32 varieties of Rasabali were being used as offerings at the Sri Baladevjew Temple in Kendrapara and it still continues. Various couplets, mythological scriptures like ‘Dandi Ramayan’ and family chronology of the Ganga dynasty ‘Ganga Banshanucharita’ have many pages on Rasabali. It has been stated that the origin of Rasabali is in Kendrapara district. GI-tagged products create scope of economic growth of the area of its origin, said experts.