India Overview
Local
products,
global
chances
Ideas for new products and processes are coming from ethnic Indian techniques,
Dr Ram Aneja and P R Gupta report
ndia's master confectioners have created a rich variety of ethnic
delicacies over the years. These techniques have opened new
opportunities for product development researchers to integrate
traditional processes with modern culinary technology to expand this
range, and thus extend the market reach of the global dairy industry.
The wave of globalisation is changing the ways in which the
world Is looking at food and this has led to a search for new, exotic
delicacies. To meet this, techniques and technologies that have
created ethnic dairy foods provide an exciting opportunity to expand
the product range of dairy desserts, dips and fudges.
Confectioners of yore concocted their sweets with fabulous tastes.
They made these delicacies with only 25 per cent milk solids, ten to
1 5 per cent moisture and raw sugar products that were all sold at the
price of milk solids. Now, over three million tonnes of traditional
sweets are produced, valued at about €7,3^ billion, each year What
has been holding back the development and expansion of these
specialities globally is that they cannot be made continuously, with
extended shelflife.
In the last two decades, industrial scale process knowledge for
these ethnic dairy foods has been developed to successfully adapt
equipment used in the manufacture of western type food products.
Thus, quark separators concentrate dahi for the production of
shrikhand, Scraped-surface heat exchangers pasteurise and process
shrikhand. Meatball-portioning machines and industrial fryers mass
produce gulabjamun, Japanese pastry making machines make products
similar to burfi, as do planetary mixers and Rheon-forming machines.
Traditional technology
The traditional dairy products of the Indian sub-continent can be
broadly classified into the following five categories:
• Desiccated milk-based products such as khoa, gulabjamun, and
kulfi ( 1 ^ per cent of milk processed):
• Heat-acid coagulated products such as paneer, chhana, and
rasogolta {six per cent);
Dairy Industries International October 2004
Gulabjamun is made from a mixture of
khoa and wheat flour
• Cultured or fermented products such as dahi, shrikhand, lassi,
and raita ( 1 ^ per cent);
• Fat-rich products such as ghee, makkhan (freshly-churned butter),
and malaj (a clotted-cream like product) (65 per cent}: and,
• Milk-based puddings and desserts such as kheer, phirni, and halwa
(one per cent).
These products are based on simple technologies. Some of
India's traditional technologies provide cues to the global industry
for new product development. Hot boiled milk Is a sure indicator
that it is safe for consumption, because boiling milk sterilises for
all practical purposes and helps in extending its shelfiife. It also
facilitates a proper propagation of starter cultures for making fermented
milk products like dahi and buttermilk. This is standard practice in
Indian households.
Repeated boiling of milk denatures all the whey proteins in it.
During boiling, these proteins come out of solution as globular
proteins that behave like fat on the tongue. They add to the
creamy feeling of products. For example, the quark-like chakka,
made from boiled milk, imparts creaminess to shrikhand. This principle
is being applied to make low-fat dairy foods in the United States.
Similarly, proteins In paneer, which resembles cottage cheese, are so
structured to prevent its melting on deep frying. This gives paneer a
unique advantage in the preparation of cheese sticks that are crisp
compared to those made of Cheddar or Mozzarella cheese that tend
to be soggy because of their moisture.
There are very few western dairy products with intermediate moisture,
but most Indian products fall in this category. These products have the
required biting and chewing properties and an extended shelflife at
ambient temperatures.
Also, most Indian dairy products are sweet in taste and are akin to
modern confectionery. In some products like sandesh. shrikhand and
mishti doi. due to their tartness, a greater use of sugar is possible
without making them excessively sweet. The large sugar volumes used
in these products help in their preservation.
India Overview

Sugar is used extensively for sweetening Indian dairy products,

Rasogolla is made from fresh cottage cheese cooked in sugar syrup
and is consumed chilled
including puddings and desserts. However, it performs multi-faceted
Functions such as a bulking agent, preservative, texturiser, humecrant.
dispersing agent, stabiliser, fermentation substrate, flavour carrier,
browning and decorative agent. The traditional sugars From molasses
impart distinct flavour, texture and mouchfeel to dairy products.
Jaggery or gur, a type of raw cane sugar, is popular in India, Similar
raw sugar products are being used in the dairy formulations outside
India. Besides imparting its characteristic taste, texture and colour,
raw sugar products also provide vitamins, iron, calcium and carbohydrates
to end products.
Indian dairy delicacies abound in cereal-based desserts. These tasty
and nutritionally balanced desserts combine lysine-deficient cereals
with lysine-rich milk in a synergistic blend, imparting a distinctive
taste and flavour to desserts like kheer, which is similar to rice
pudding. No feast is considered complete without this concentrated
milk sweet, which contains rice, saFFron and almond.

India's nnilk market

The industrial scale production oF India's traditional milk products is The first two user segments account for almost 90 per cent of milk
emerging as a major industry. The total value of output of milk and consumed in India, The remaining ten to 12 per cent is handled by
milk products is currently estimated at €2^.5 billion in 200^. Leading over 600 dairy plants with their processing capacity totalling 66
brands like Amul, Nestle, Mother Dairy and Britannia are tapping this million litres per day. A few of them individually handle over one
booming market for traditional products. million litres of milk per day. The production of ethnic foods provides
With an estimated production of 91 million tonnes in 200^, India is a profitable outlet to the organised sector. The use of milk by
the world's largest milk producer and dairy market. Exports of milk product is shown in table 2, and the output or the organised dairy
products are insignificant, and consumption is increasing swiftly as sector is shown in table 3.
disposable income grows rapidly Among all foods, the demand for Table 2: Milk utilisation pattern in India. 1943-2004
milk and milk products is expected to be highest at 160 per cent in
Years
the period 2001 to 2020. India's projected milk production up to
19i(3- 1956 200A
2010 is given in table 1, Modern milk processing is confined largely to
^5 cities, each with a population of more than a million. Milk production (million tonnes) 23.5 17.8 91
Milk utilisation (percentage) 100 100 100
Table I: Projected population and milk production, 2000-2010 Liquid milk 28.0% 39.2% ^6.0%
Year (fiscal Projected Annual milk Per capita Traditional products 72.0% 60.8% 50.0%
year ending Population production availability projected Ghee/makkhan (clarified butter) 58.7% ^6.0% 33.0%
March of the (million) (million tonnes)
year shown) Dahi (yogurt-like) 5.2% 8.8% 70%

Kg/year Grams/day Khoa (partially dessicated milk) 5.0% 7,0%

2000 1.002.1 77,69 78.23 2U.32 Chhana & paneer (unprocessed 3.1% 1,6% 3.0%
2002 1,033.0 8^.60 81.89 22^.35 cottage cheese)
200^ 1.065,8 91.0 85.38 233.91 Western products Milk powder, etc Neg Neg if.0%
2006 1.100.0 99.0 90.0 2ii6.57 'includes Pakistan and Bangladesh
2008 1.13^,3 107.0 9^.33 258.^3 Source; Handbook on Technology of Indian Miik Products
2010 1.168.1 115.00 96.31 263.86
Source,- Handbook on Technoiogy of Indian Milk Products
Table 3:Value and volume of estimated output of the organised dairy
sector, 2004

India's dairy market is multi-layered, shaped like a pyramid, with the Product Volume Rate Value
(million (€ '000/ (€
base made of the vast market for low cost liquid milk. The tonnes) tonne) billion)
narrow tip at the top is a small but affluent market, largely for western- Liquid milk 7.0 0.23 1.6
type and fresh packaged Indian dairy products, accounting for ten to
Branded sweets & specialities 0.5 1.6 0.8
12 per cent of total milk processed. The trend in milk use patterns for
Branded ghee 0.2 2 0.^
the last 60 years is shown in table 2. At the moment, milk consumption
Western products:
in India serves three main groups of users:
Milk powders* 0.5 1.5 0.7
• The household sector, mainly for the purpose of drinking and also Cheese 0,01 2A 0.2
for conversion into milk products such as curd, buttermilk, lassi and Ice Cream (million litres) 200 1.1/lt 0.23
ghee for family use; Butter 0.05 2.1 0.1
• The non-organised sector (traditional milkman and halwais) for Total 5.07
meeting the urban demand for liquid milk and for the production
of mithais and other traditional products: and. 'includes baby food, SfVlP, WMR dairy whitener etc
• The organised sector that processes milk into pasteurised liquid
Source; Handbook on Technology of Indian Milk Products
milk and products.

October 2004 Dairy Industries International

 India Overview

water. It is native to the north oF India, where it is drunk sweet or

salted, Aseptically-packed, long-life lassi has been successfully
marketed all over India,
As a versatile intermediate base for a wide range of sweets
such as gulabjamun and burfi. khoa occupies a prominent place in
the traditional dairy product sector. By adding cereals, wheat
Flour, sugar and flavours into it. a wide range of conFections can
be made, A Contherm-Convap scraped surface heat exchanger
system has reportedly been employed for the large-scale continuous
production of khoa. An inclined scraped surFace heat exchanger has
also been developed at the National Dairy Development Board
(NDDB) in Anand,
A nationally popular khoa-based sweet called gulabjamun is made
with khoa and maida (wheat flour). As it looks like the fruit jamun and
is flavoured with rose water (gulab-jal). it got its name of gulabjamun.
It is usually consumed hot, Gulabjamun is golden to dark brown in
colour and has a soft to firm body and smooth texture and is soaked
in thick sugar syrup. Industrial production of gulabjamun has been
taken up in several dairy plants in India and abroad,
Chhana is a traditional soft cottage cheese and is formed by the
acid precipitation of milk proteins. It is used as an intermediate base
for a wide variety of Bengali sweets that include rasogolla, sandesh
and pantua, A good quality chhana is made from cow milk.
Historically, the origin of paneer can be traced to the nomads oF
Industrial'Scale production of shrikhand, showing the packaging line southwest Asia who were the First to develop various types oF this
at the Sugam Dairy,Vadodara, Gujarat
cheese. Among these is the unique Iranian cheese Paneer-Khiki.
Most traditional milk products in India are made without the use of originally developed by the Bhakhtiari nomadic tribe. In the last few
stabilisers, emulsifiers. processing aids or chemical preservatives, decades, its growing popularity has led to its integration into the
Even the acidulant used For coagulation of milk For paneer and chhana Indian cuisine and enjoys the status of a national delicacy. A process
is usually the whey. For its industrial scale production has been developed, using
Although the processes For making ethnic sweets have undergone cheese/case in/to Fu manufacturing equipment. C9
continuous change, the time has now come to integrate traditional
methods with modern technology. This will also help the global dairy
players to look beyond the usual liquid milk, cheese, yogurt, butter,
ice cream, malted milk beverages and the like,
Rasogolla is a ball oF cottage cheese soaked in sugar syrup and is
traditionally From Bengal. Shrikhand is a semi-solid, tangy fermented
dairy dessert prepared from dahi (curd). It combines the nutritive
value oF Fermented milk products with a remarkable taste. Consumed
cold, it Forms a part of festive meal. Made with a quark-like product,
it is Finely mixed with sugar and Flavouring agents like saFFron and
freshly-grounded cardamom seeds. This mixture is given a cream-
smooth Finish by kneading, Shrikhand is the First ethnic milk product
to be made on an industrial scale.
Kulfi is a 500 year old Frozen dessert, which is very similar to ice
cream in Formulation and processing. Its popularity dates back to the
1 6th century Moghul period when it was welcomed as a summer heat
quencher The basic recipe has remained unchanged. Reduced milk
is Frozen, sweetened, tinted and flavoured with saffron and
enriched with nuts in a metal cone. It is then sealed with a plaster
of wheat dough,
Dahi is yogurt-like product and is widely consumed in India,
Consumed plain, sugared or salted, it is taken as a part oF the meal. In
eastern India, a sweet variety known as 'mishti doi' is popular Dahi and
yogurt have many things in common. However, they diFFer considerably The ethnic dessert shrikhand is a fermented, quark-like milk product.
The first traditional milk delicacy for which large-scale production
in terms of cultures used and their bouquet and Flavour profiles, technology has been worked out, its production has been taken up in
Raita is made From dahi and it serves as an accompaniment to meals. many dairy plants in India and overseas
It is prepared by lightly beating dahi and is then spiced and salted to
taste. In a recent report, a New York Times special correspondent
Dr Kam Aneja is an international dairy consultant and former mana^ng
Focused on the many virtues oF raita under the headline "India's raita
director of the National Dairy Development Board.Anand, India. P R Gupta
tickles New York palate", Raita is salad, dip and side dish in one — it
Is editor and publisher of the Dairy India Yearbook.
requires no cooking and is quickly made with common ingredients, For more information on the Indian dairy industry, contact P R Gupta.
Lassi is another variant of dahi. It is a refreshing chilled drink E-mail yearbook@vsnl.com. Web: www.lndianMilkProducts.com
prepared by stirring up dahr and adding a small quantity oF cold

Dairy Industries International October 2004