Technological Innovations in the Manufacture of Traditional Fermented Dairy Product: A Review

Dahi or Indian curd, is a well-known fermented milk product consumed by large sections of the population throughout the country, either as a part of the daily diet or as a refreshing beverage. Being one of the oldest, most popular and widely consumed fermented milk of India, dahi, resembles Western yogurt in most aspects. The use of dahi has been prevalent since Vedic times, and it is mentioned in ancient scriptures like Vedas, Upanishads and various hymns. Dahi is an intermediate product for manufacture of traditional butter and ghee and is used as a base for preparation of related products such as lassi, chhash, shrikhand, curd rice etc. It is largely made at home using traditional kitchen recipes, involving milk of buffaloes, cows and goats. Generally a mixture of cow and buffalo milk is used. Milk is boiled and cooled, inoculated with dahi starter, usually the left over from the previous day’s stock, and incubated undisturbed at ambient temperature for four to six hours until it acquires a thick consistency.