Brahmanbaria chhanamukhi

The story

Chhanamukhi is found almost nowhere outside Brahmanbaria, and the town connects it to one old shop. Mahadev Mishtanna Bhandar, in the Mahadev Potti area, is said to have been making it for around 180 years. The story told there is that a man named Mahadev Pande came from Kashi to Kolkata with his brother and, after the brother's death, moved to Brahmanbaria, where he found work in the sweet shop of Shibram Modak. Shibram later left the shop to him, and Mahadev, who never married, is said to have given it to a nearby temple before he died. The shop has since passed through several generations of the Modak family.

The sweet itself is labour-heavy. Fresh chhena is pressed, cut into small squares and cooked in sugar syrup until the outside dries to a crisp, white, sugary shell while the inside stays soft. Makers say it takes several litres of milk to make a single kilogram. Local pride in chhanamukhi got a boost in 1986, when, according to press reports, Pakistan's then president praised it after tasting it at an embassy event in Islamabad.

The Brahmanbaria district administration applied for GI status in 2022. The Department of Patents, Designs and Trademarks entered chhanamukhi in the GI register in 2024 and announced it that September, and the certificate was formally handed over in April 2025 along with those of several other products.

How to spot the real Brahmanbaria chhanamukhi

Real chhanamukhi comes in small, neat cubes or squares, roughly the size of a sugar cube or a little bigger, with distinct corners. The outside is dry to the touch and dusted or glazed with fine white crystallised sugar; there is no syrup in the box. Bite in and the crust gives way to a soft, slightly chewy chhena centre with a clean milky taste. Pieces that are wet, sticky, rounded like a rasgolla or that taste mainly of flour are something else. Because the name is not widely copied outside the district, the main thing to check is that the seller is actually sourcing from Brahmanbaria and that the batch is fresh.

Buying tips

Being dry and syrup-free, chhanamukhi travels better than most milk sweets and is a sensible choice to send by courier to another district. It is still made from fresh chhena, though, so ask the seller when the batch was made, how the pieces are packed (a lined cardboard box or an airtight tin keeps them from sweating), and how many days delivery takes to your area. Price depends on milk quality and how much chhena goes into each kilogram.

On Midmart, every shop sets its own delivery charge, and an order from two shops is two deliveries with two fees. Midmart does not collect payment or carry parcels; you and the seller agree both directly. Midmart cannot certify a listing as the GI product, so rely on what the seller can tell you about origin and freshness.

Keeping it fresh

Keep chhanamukhi in an airtight box in a cool, dry place and eat it within a few days; in hot weather, refrigerate it and let it warm up a little before serving. Keep it away from moisture, which makes the sugar crust go sticky.

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Shops from where it is made

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Questions about Brahmanbaria chhanamukhi

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