Ethnic preparation and quality assessment of Chhurpi, a home-made cheese of Ladakh, India  Avik Panda, Kuntal Ghosh, Mousumi Ray, Sourav K. Nandi, Saswati Parua (Mondal), Debabrata Bera, Som Nath Singh, Sanjay K. Dwivedi, Keshab C. Mondal  Journal of Ethnic Foods  Volume 3, Issue 4, Pages 257-262 (December 2016) DOI: 10.1016/j.jef.2016.12.004 Copyright © 2016 Korea Food Research Institute Terms and Conditions

Fig. 1 Location map of Ladakh, India. Ladakh region is easternmost trans-Himalayan part of Jammu and Kashmir state of India. District Leh is situated approximately between 32° and 36° north Latitude and between 75° and 80° east longitude and altitude ranging from 2,300 m to 5,000 m above sea level with an area of 45,100 km2. Journal of Ethnic Foods 2016 3, 257-262DOI: (10.1016/j.jef.2016.12.004) Copyright © 2016 Korea Food Research Institute Terms and Conditions

Fig. 2 Chhurpi processing steps in Ladakh. (A) Formation of dahi (curd): approximately, 50–80 g of old inoculum (curd) is added into the milk (approximately 500 mL) and kept at room temperature for fermentation and curdling of the milk. (B) Separation of cream: the freshly prepared curd is then churned uniformly for 3–4 minutes with the use of an electrical mixer and addition of a little amount of warm water. The light cream part is accumulated on the upper surface of the liquid. The accumulated mass of cream is then taken out by hand from the remaining liquid which is called buttermilk. (C) Boiling of buttermilk: after separating the fat from curd, the remaining buttermilk which is locally known as tara, is boiled for coagulation. (D) Mixing of the coagulated portion: the solid portion is mixed thoroughly by hand to get a smooth consistency. This consistency is really necessary for maintaining its sensorial properties. (E) Shaping and mattering: then, it is shaped by pressing in between the fingers onto a clean cloth. This technique gives the unique size and shape of this traditional chhurpi. Generally, it is ∼40 mm long. (F) Soft chhurpi: this is usually called soft chhurpi. It contains a high amount of moisture and thus it is soft in nature. Soft chhurpi provides instant energy. People generally take it after working hard. Journal of Ethnic Foods 2016 3, 257-262DOI: (10.1016/j.jef.2016.12.004) Copyright © 2016 Korea Food Research Institute Terms and Conditions

Fig. 3 Picture of hard chhurpi. Soft chhurpi is sun dried for 5–7 days as the moisture content becomes low. This hard chhurpi is stored for future consumption. Usually, people consume this chhurpi with vegetables soup. Journal of Ethnic Foods 2016 3, 257-262DOI: (10.1016/j.jef.2016.12.004) Copyright © 2016 Korea Food Research Institute Terms and Conditions

Fig. 4 Microbial analysis of Ladakhi chhurpi sample. Dominant culturable microflora were enumerated on the basis of colony forming units (CFU) in selective media using spread plate techniques. The experiments were carried out five times and the values were represented as mean±standard deviation. LAB, lactic acid bacteria. Journal of Ethnic Foods 2016 3, 257-262DOI: (10.1016/j.jef.2016.12.004) Copyright © 2016 Korea Food Research Institute Terms and Conditions