Type of Chhana

i.Cow Milk Chhana

For chhana production, cow milk is preferred since it yields a soft-bodied and smooth textured product, which is highly suitable for preparation of high-grade chhana sweets such as rasogulla, sandesh, etc. Cow milk is standardized to 4.0 per cent fat. The milk is heated to near boiling without holding. Thereafter, the temperature of milk is brought down to 82oC and coagulated at this temperature using coagulating acid solution of 1-2 per cent concentration. Acid solution is added to milk with constant stirring till clear whey separated out. The coagulated mass collected in a muslin cloth and hung up for complete drainage of whey. Finally chhana is packaged in suitable packaging material and stored under refrigeration/ cold store. The flow chart for manufacture of cow milk chhana is presented in Fig.

Flow chart for manufacture of cow milk chhana

ii.Chhana from Buffalo Milk

As mentioned above cow milk is an ideal raw material fro chhana making because it yields soft body and smooth textured product which is suitable for chhana based sweets. Buffalo milk, because of many inherent differences in physico-chemical make-up than that of cow milk, poses many technological problems in preparation of good quality chhana and chhana-based sweets. As such buffalo milk yields hard body and coarse textured product, which is not desirable for chhana and chhana based sweets.In order to utilize buffalo milk for chhana making, various technological modifications have been made viz. admixing of cow and buffalo milk (75 parts cow and 25 part buffalo milk), incorporation of additives (sodium dihydrogen phosphate, disodium hydrogen phosphate, CMC, guar gum, sodium citrate, sodium alginate, etc.), dilution of buffalo milk with 25 per cent water (v/v), and homogenization of milk. A method has been developed at National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal for production of chhana for rasogulla making. The standardized method involve: standardization of buffalo milk to 5.0 per cent fat and heating to boiling temperature, addition of 0.05 per cent sodium alginate followed by filtration and cooling to 40oC. Thereafter, the milk is coagulated with 1.0 per cent citric acid solution. The coagulated mass is collected and pressed employing a pressure of 0.05 kg/cm2 to achieve desired quality.

The flow chart for manufacture of buffalo milk chhana is presented in Fig. 6.4.

Flow chart for manufacture of buffalo milk chhana