On the ground floor of Harbor City Mall, about 210 meters from Old Bus Stand Junction in Thalassery, Kannur, there is a dark green board with capital neon letters that spell Mambali. Behind its glass doors, biscuits and cakes are neatly arranged on glass shelves for space with boxes of plum cakes whispering a legacy of over a century.
Considered to be India’s first bakery, the Royal Biscuit Factory of Mamballi, Thalassery, established in 1880, is also the birthplace of the beloved plum cake, a definite presence on the dining table next to a glass of red wine at Christmas feasts.
The history of the Royal Biscuit Factory at Mamballi can be traced back five generations when Thalassery resident Mambali Bapu was approached by British businessman Murdoch Brown to bake cakes for Christmas in 1883. He gave Bapu a cake of England to taste. Duplicate it and some ingredients like dry fruits are also provided. Brown also suggested Bapu soak the fruit in French brandy.
A few years ago, Bapu started a bakery on the main road in front of Thalassery Police Station, which had moved to Harbor City Mall. After training in Burma, he started a bakery which initially sold around 40 varieties of biscuits, buns and rusks.
Picture of Mambali Bapu Photo Credit: Special Arrangements
To prepare the cake, the baking doyenne procured spices and replaced brandy with local arrack made from cashew apples and bananas. He also had Dharmadam, a blacksmith from Thalassery, prepare the mold he wanted. As soon as Murdoch returned to taste the cake, he was mesmerized and called it one of the best he had ever eaten.
This event which eventually contributed to Thalassery being known as the city of three C’s – cricket, cake and circus – is so popular that it even has an immortal pictorial comic.
As the years progressed, the Mambley family spread to different parts of the state, continuing to have a significant presence in the baked good industry. “In Thiruvananthapuram, Santha Bakery is well reputed in the business. We have got the best bakery in Kottayam and modern bakery in Kottayam and Kozhikode. Then we have Cochin Bakery, which has spread across Kerala and Karnataka. There are many bakeries and each has created a legacy for itself. But everything started from Thalassery,’ says Renuka Bala, the fifth generation of the family, who joined the business two years ago.
“I was trying to help my uncle MM Prakash, who runs a shop. Along the way, I realized that we have such a legacy and no one from my generation has taken this business forward,” she says.
Today, Mambally plum cake includes dry fruits and nuts such as raisins, walnuts and figs as well as candied fruits, ginger and orange peel. (Renuka says the family had documents from Japan about purchasing these items in the past.) They no longer use alcohol, but the fruits are still cooked in bell metal. UruliA traditional wide-mouthed, shallow cookware. The mixture is stored in batches for months and added to the cake batter which includes spices, either locally sourced or grown in Mambly Gardens. The batter is cooked in a traditional wood fire oven using coconut shells.
Cake batter in moulds Photo Credit: Special Arrangements
A wood-fired oven at the Royal Biscuit Factory in Mambali used for baking cakes and biscuits Photo Credit: Special Arrangements
Since joining the business, Renuka, who has nearly 20 years of experience in her last role as Vice President and Head of Marketing, has ensured that the bakery has started selling its goods online, thereby reaching people from different parts of the world. of the world. She says, ‘We have received orders from Mizoram, Manipur, Meghalaya, Jharkhand, Agra, Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata. We also get orders from Australia, USA and Canada. ”
Cakes and Biscuits from Royal Biscuit Factory of Mambally Photo Credit: Special Arrangements
For Umashankar Menon, a 76-year-old retired army doctor from Thalassery who currently resides in Pune, cakes were part of his childhood. He says, ‘There are two reasons why I bought it. One, it is basically a product of Thalassery. Two, its taste is unmatched. I have had plum cake from many places but nothing comes close to it. Umashankar used to make sure he bought it on his way back to Pune but now they are happy to deliver there. “It brings back good memories of the great, simple life back then,” says Dubai-based Jayant Prabhakaran, 57, who used to visit Thalassery on childhood vacations to his ancestral home in Mahe, eight kilometers away. away
When Renuka Bala and Paul Brown visited Thalassery in 2023 Photo Credit: Special Arrangements
Despite being an integral part of Christmas celebrations around the world, members of the Mambli family rarely meet on Christmas Day, says Renuka, “No one really has time to socialize. If you want to have a Christmas party, there is no time because people work all day, all night, fulfilling orders. are doing.”
However, they had a very special piece of cake last year. Paul Brown, the fourth generation descendant of the Brown family, came to Thalassery in 2023 with a cake prepared by a French chef in England to honor the relationship between the two families.
Royal Plum Cakes from Mambally Royal Biscuit Factory are available online at mamballys.com for ₹700.
The history of plum cake
The origins of plum cake can be traced back to medieval England.
A porridge said to be made with oats, dried fruit, spices, honey and sometimes meat on Christmas Eve.
In the 16th century, eggs and butter were added to the mixture and oats were replaced with flour. The meat is already removed.
Initially, the flour was wrapped in muslin cloth and cooked in boiling water and cooked only in wealthy households that could afford an oven.
The reason why it is called plum cake is not clear. Some believe that raisins, which are abundant in cakes, were formerly called plums in England, while others believe that they were dried plums or prunes.
This tradition gradually spread to other British colonies.
Today, versions vary by region and family. Some of them contain alcohol and some do not.
published – Dec 17, 2024 04:09 pm IST