Noalen gur all the year round, thanks to essence from Chennai

Bengalis love sweets and, in winter, it is all abut sweets where the main ingredient is nolen gur - sweets like nolen gur sandesh and rosogolla. However, since the suppliers are unable to produce enough quantities of gur because of various reasons, many sweet manufacturers depend on a product from Chennai that imparts the color and essence of nolen gur.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 29 December 2015.

Sweet shops have been using this artificial agent for the past three years because nolen gur suppliers in South 24-Parganas and Nadia are struggling to come up with quality produce.
This product is identified as S 4167. It is expensive but, one millilitre is enough for a kilogram of cottage cheese. It comes in glass bottles that list propylene glycol, flavouring agents, sugar and water as its ingredients. incidentally, propylene glycol is used in coffee-based drinks, liquid sweeteners, ice cream, dairy products and medicines.
The problems faced by local suppliers to produce it locally is basically the surrounding temperature - the colder it is, the better the sap of the date palms. After a tree is cut there is usually a waiting period of at least three days. This year, the cloud cover has come in the way and the required temperature was not there.
As indicated by sap collectors, the temperature needs to be between 12 to 14 degrees Celsius over several days for good quality sap to be collected. Against his, before this weekend, the mercury had dropped below 14 degrees Celsius only once this season. Moreover the age of the date palm tree, its height and thickness of its fibers also affect the quality of the sap.

(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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