A selection of sweets to be served at the Nolen Gur Festival at De Sovrani. (Sudeshna Banerjee). (Below) Tiramisu sweetened with jaggery

Jaggery is the ingredient of choice, not just in the sweet shop round the corner but in a star hotel in DD Block. De Sovrani is hosting a nolen gurer festival for which a range of sweets is being prepared with date palm jaggery replacing sugar as the sweetening agent.

“If we can have food festivals dedicated to the mango in summer, we thought why not have a festival highlighting jaggery in winter?” said general manager Arnab Kumar Sen. Both varieties of khejur gur — the liquid nolen and the solid patali — have been procured from South 24-Parganas.

Yes, there is the traditional Patishapta, a rice flour crepe enveloping desiccated coconut mixture sweetened with gur (three for Rs 168). There is Dudh Puli, the spindle-shaped steamed dumpling immersed in sweetened milk (five for Rs 168). But chef Barid Baran Sau thinks it is his innovations with jaggery that will be his trump card. “Every confectioner these days stocks a variety of traditional gur-based sweets. So we thought of something new,” he says.

A selection of sweets to be served at the Nolen Gur Festival at De Sovrani. (Sudeshna Banerjee). (Below) Tiramisu sweetened with jaggery

What he has created is an array of confection typical of a European patisserie but using jaggery. So there is Penna Cotta, the Italian pudding, on the menu right next to Patishapta, Swiss Roll (Rs 132 for two) alongside Baked Gurer Rosogolla (Rs 192 for four), Jaggery Mousse (Rs 192) beside Gurer Phirni (Rs 168). “Customers have become so calorie-conscious that they prefer Western desserts to traditional sweets in which the sweetness cannot be compromised with.”

The chef’s personal favourite is the Tiramisu (Rs 204). “The coffee-flavoured Italian dessert blends well with jaggery.”

“But if someone wants to have jhola gur with roti we can serve that too,” smiles Sen. The festival is on till Sunday.