Chomchom

Chomchom is a Bengali sweet made by simmering chhena, which is made by curdling milk, in sweet syrup. The version famed in Porabari, in Bangladesh’s Tangail District, is distinguished by its elongated oval shape and a brown color reminiscent of fired brick. It holds syrup inside and has a moist sweetness.

From Milk to Oval

At one shop in Tangail, milk is boiled and then curdled with whey left over from the previous time milk was curdled. The chhena obtained by draining off the liquid is combined with a small amount of wheat flour, rolled into ovals, and simmered in sugar syrup. After time to cool, the brown chomchom are set out in the shop. The milk solids are kneaded and shaped, and the sweetness of the simmering syrup is absorbed inside.

Rasgulla is also a sweet made by simmering chhena in syrup, but Porabari chomchom can be distinguished by its long shape and its color. Chomchom also come in white, pale yellow, and pink, and some are coated with coconut or mawa. The shape and color of one region’s specialty do not apply to every sweet with the same name.

Memories of a River Port and the Name of a Place

In Porabari, it is said that the confectioner Dasharath Gour began making this sweet. Bangladesh’s cultural heritage records document this local account while noting that there is little evidence to establish who first made it. Those records also preserve a legend that the water of the Dhaleshwari River gave the sweet its flavor. This can be understood not as proof of a link between the properties of the water and the taste, but as one explanation through which local people describe the sweet’s distinctive character.

Porabari was once a river port where boats stopped and passengers bought sweets to take with them. A sweets market also grew up in the city of Tangail, and some shops have workshops behind them. During the New Year festival of Pohela Boishakh and the puja season, more people reportedly come to the shops looking for sweets. It is a sweet that carries the name of its place and is also given at weddings and celebrations and when visiting relatives.

The family of Madan Chandra Gour, interviewed in Porabari, used the courtyard of their home as a place to make sweets. According to his wife, Jharna, her husband and children were also involved in the work, but she worried about rising ingredient prices and whether the work could be passed on to the next generation. The sweets made by the family’s hands are carried, along with the name of their place, to distant towns as well.

Glossary