A little over three years after Bengal bagged the GI tag for Banglar Rasogolla, a clutch of sweet shops in the city and the districts have qualified to sell the GI-tagged pure white sweet spongy ball as “authorised user”.

Out of more than a lakh sweetmeat sellers in Bengal, only 71 have cleared the tests carried out by a team of scientists from the patent cell of the West Bengal State Food Processing and Horticulture Development Corporation Limited.

The Geographical Indication (GI) tag certification comes after an elaborate and time-consuming testing process because of the specifications that are laid down for the syrupy sweet to qualify as Banglar Rasogolla.

What are some of these specifications?

The dumpling needs to be made of pure chhana. No starch can be added. Careful kneading is required because the “mouth feel” of a Banglar Rasogolla depends on this.

Each spherical dumpling should weigh around 10gm each. The syrup needs to be light — the stipulated sugar concentration is 30 to 40 per cent — and have a transparent appearance. Banglar Rasogolla should also conform to the metric of sponginess and have a smooth, soft texture with an average moisture content of around 50 per cent.

“Each of these aspects were carefully tested through different processes and the results were matched with those that have been laid down as specifications for Banglar Rasogolla,” said Mohua Hom Choudhury, the lead scientist of the team under the state government’s department of science and technology.

“We are trying to devise a technology that would help a customer scan a code and understand whether the rasogolla seller is authorised for Banglar Rasogolla.”

Some of the sweet shops in Calcutta that bagged the certificate are KC Das Private Limited, Mouchak, Sen Mahasay, Mithai, Balaram Mullick and Radharaman Mullick and Chittaranjan Mistanna Bhandar.

The representatives were given the certificates at a programme in the city on Thursday, which was organised by Mishti Udyog, an umbrella organisation of sweetmeat sellers across Bengal.

“This certificate makes us accountable for selling authentic GI-tagged Banglar Rasogolla. Only those certified as users can sell the real GI-tagged rasogolla from now on,” said Dhiman Das, director of KC Das Pvt Ltd and great grandson of Nabin Chandra Das, who is credited with creating the rasogolla in 1868.