Cheeses of Kolkata
The city of chhena: rosogolla, sandesh and pantua in every neighbourhood sweet shop, and Bandel and Kalimpong cheese in New Market.
Made, aged and sold here
Best time: November to February, the season of nolen gur sandesh.
Kolkata is the great city of fresh cheese in India, though most of it is eaten as sweets. Chhena, milk split with acid and drained, is kneaded into rosogolla, pressed into sandesh and fried into pantua in thousands of sweet shops. The old covered New Market also keeps a counter or two selling Bandel and Kalimpong cheese, the two aged cheeses of Bengal.
Chhena and the sweet shops
Bengali confectioners work chhena by hand, kneading it smooth on a flat tray before shaping it. Rosogolla are poached in light syrup, sandesh is cooked gently with sugar and pressed into moulds, and pantua is fried until dark. The Bagbazar area in the north of the city is linked with the rosogolla made popular in the 1860s, and every neighbourhood has a shop with its own sandesh in winter, flavoured with nolen gur, the date-palm jaggery.
New Market and the cheese counters
New Market, opened in 1874 and later named after Sir Stuart Hogg, is a red-brick hall of stalls near Chowringhee. Among the cake shops and grocers, a few old counters sell Bandel cheese in its small discs and Kalimpong cheese in wheels from the hills. Buying a little of each and tasting them side by side is the quickest way into the cheese of eastern India.
A trail idea for Kolkata
- Bagbazar The northern neighbourhood tied to the story of the modern rosogolla.
- A neighbourhood sweet shop Taste sandesh, rosogolla and pantua made from the morning's chhena.
- New Market Look for Bandel and Kalimpong cheese at the old grocery counters.
- College Street Stop for books and a sweet on the walk between north and central Kolkata.
Written by the EveryCheese desk with AI assistance. Background: "Kolkata" on Wikipedia. Opening hours, markets, caves and tours change; check locally before travelling. If something is wrong, tell us.
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