JEF94_proof ■ 21 December 2016 ■ 1/7 J Ethn Foods - (2016) 1e7 55 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect 56 57 Journal of Ethnic Foods 58 59 60 journal homepage: http://journalofethnicfoods.net 61 62 63 Original article 64 65 1 Ethnic preparation and quality assessment of Chhurpi, a home-made 66 2 67 3 cheese of Ladhak, India 68 4 69 a, b, 1 a, c, 1 a a 5 Q11 Avik Panda , Kuntal Ghosh , Mousumi Ray , Sourav K. Nandi , 70 6 Saswati Parua (Mondal) d, Debabrata Bera e, Som Nath Singh f, Sanjay K. Dwivedi g, 71 7 * Keshab C. Mondal a, 72 8 73 9 a Department of Microbiology, Vidyasagar University, Midnapor, West Bengal, India 74 10 b Biotech Hub, Jawaharlal Nehru College, Boko, Kamrup, Assam, India c 75 11 Department of Food Science and Technology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do, South Korea d Department of Physiology, Bajkul Milani Mahavidyalaya, Purba Medinipur, West Bengal, India 76 12 e Department of Food Technology and Bio-Chemical Engineering, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, West Bengal, India 77 13 f Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences, Delhi, India 78 g 14 Q1 CEPTAM (DRDO), Metcalfe House, Delhi, India 79 15 80 16 81 17 article info abstract 82 18 83 19 Q3 Article history: Chhurpi is a traditional cottage cheese found in different hilly regions of India including Sikkim, 84 20 Received 17 March 2016 Darjeeling, Ladakh, etc. The main aim of this study was to explore the preparation process, microbial, and Received in revised form 85 21 chemical compositions of chhurpi in Ladakh. There are mainly two types of chhurpi found in Ladakh: soft 7 December 2016 86 and hard (sun dried). Result showed that yeast, mold, lactic acid bacteria, and Bifidobacterium sp. were 22 Accepted 7 December 2016 87 the major participating microbes in Ladhaki chhupri. The amount of riboflavin (162.71 mg/g), thiamine 23 Available online xxx (64.48 mg/g), and vitamin C (23.53 mg/g) were higher in the soft chhurpi than the hard chhurpi. However, 88 24 lactic acid and acetic acid contents in hard chhurpi (0.23 mg/g and 0.16 mg/g, respectively) were higher 89 25 Keywords: 90 cheese than the soft chhurpi (0.12 mg/g and 0.06 mg/g, respectively). It also contains a very good amount of 26 e e e chhurpi protein (60 63%) and carbohydrates (23 24%) and a low amount of fat (7 8%). Very low amounts of 91 27 lactic acid bacteria ethanol and methanol were also detected. This study clearly demonstrated that microbial interaction 92 28 Ladhak during fermentation of milk makes it more nutritious as it enriches the fermented material with vitamins 93 29 vitamin and organic acids. 94 © 30 2016 Korea Food Research Institute. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the 95 31 CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). 96 32 97 33 98 34 1. Introduction immunomodulation, pathogen exclusion, production of antimi- 99 35 crobial substances, anticarcinogenic, and cholesterol-lowering ac- 100 36 Traditional fermented foods have achieved an important place tivities [2]. Traditional fermented milk products, especially cheese- 101 37 in human society as fermentation enhances the shelf life, texture, like products, have a great importance in the food culture of rural 102 38 taste, aroma, and nutritional value of food [1]. According to the regions, not only for their health benefits but also from an economic 103 39 European Commission (2007), traditional foods are generally pre- point of view. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) play an important role in 104 40 pared and consumed by the local people of a particular region. The milk fermentation [3]. Their ability to produce acids, H2O2, antibi- 105 41 preparation processes of these traditional fermented foods come otics, vitamins, and antimicrobial peptides during milk fermenta- 106 42 from earlier generations and have been passed down from gener- tion prevents the growth of other undesirable microbes [4]. 107 43 ation to generation. Therefore, registration of different information The Ladakh region is the easternmost trans-Himalayan part of 108 44 about traditional food is part of the preservation of a nation’s the Jammu and Kashmir state of India (Fig. 1) and it is also called a 109 45 culinary heritage and culture. cold desert region for its extreme climatic conditions like a very high 110 46 Several researches have shown that fermented milk products altitude, very low moisture content in the atmosphere, fluctuating 111 47 exert different health-promoting attributes like temperature (e25 C in winter and reaches 35 C in summer), 112 48 intensive sunlight, very little scope of agriculture, etc. [5]. The Leh 113 49 * Corresponding author. Department of Microbiology, Vidyasagar University, district is situated roughly between 32 and 36 north latitude and 114 50 Q2 Midnapor, West Bengal, India. between 75 and 80 east longitude and altitude ranging from 115 51 E-mail address: [email protected] (K.C. Mondal). 2,300 m to 5,000 m above sea level with an area of 45,100 km2. 116 1 These authors have contributed equally to this work. 52 117 53 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jef.2016.12.004 118 54 2352-6181/© 2016 Korea Food Research Institute. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/ 119 licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Please cite this article in press as: Panda A, et al., Ethnic preparation and quality assessment of Chhurpi, a home-made cheese of Ladhak, India, Journal of Ethnic Foods (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jef.2016.12.004 JEF94_proof ■ 21 December 2016 ■ 2/7 2 J Ethn Foods 2016; -:1e7 1 66 2 67 3 68 4 69 5 70 6 71 7 72 8 73 9 74 10 75 11 76 12 77 13 78 14 79 15 80 16 81 17 82 18 83 19 84 20 85 21 86 22 87 23 88 24 89 25 90 26 91 27 92 28 93 29 94 30 95 31 96 32 97 33 98 34 99 35 100 36 101 37 102 38 103 39 104 40 105 41 106 42 107 43 108 44 109 45 110 46 111 47 112 48 113 49 114 50 115 51 116 52 117 53 118 54 119 55 120 56 121 57 122 58 123 59 124 60 125 61 126 62 Fig. 1. Location map of Ladhak, India. Ladakh region is easternmost trans-Himalayan part of Jammu and Kashmir state of India. District Leh is situated approximately between 32 127 63 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. Q12 128 64 129 65 130 Please cite this article in press as: Panda A, et al., Ethnic preparation and quality assessment of Chhurpi, a home-made cheese of Ladhak, India, Journal of Ethnic Foods (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jef.2016.12.004 JEF94_proof ■ 21 December 2016 ■ 3/7 A. Panda et al / Chhurpi, a home-made cheese of Ladhak, India 3 1 Topographically, the whole of the district is mountainous with three different stages of fermentation using a sterilized spatula and kept 66 2 parallel ranges of the Himalayas, Zanskar, Ladakh, and Karakoram. in the sterilized containers. The containers were immediately 67 3 Due to the extreme climatic conditions, Ladhaki people preserve transferred to an ice box, and transported to the laboratory in the 68 4 their food stuffs for the future, especially for the winter season when ice box. The samples were stored in the laboratory at e20C for 69 5 the temperature goes down to e35C. Different types of fermented further analysis. 70 6 products are prepared and consumed by the Ladakhi people such as 71 7 chhang (a barley-based fermented drink), rguntshang (fermented 2.4. Microbiological analysis 72 8 grape drink), khambir (fermented bread), etc., and most of them are 73 9 processed by their indigenous traditional methods. Chhurpi (home- The population of the dominant culturable microflora were 74 10 made cheese) is one of the popular traditional fermented milk enumerated on the basis of colony forming units (CFU) in selective 75 11 products consumed by the people of Ladakh. It is also very popular media using spread plate techniques following the standard proto- 76 12 among different ethnic groups in the Himalayan region of Darjee- col as stated in the HiMedia Manual (www.himedialabs.com). Total 77 13 ling, Sikkim, Nepal, Bhutan, and Arunachal Pradesh. There are aerobic bacteria were enumerated using plate count agar and the 78 14 mainly two varieties of chhurpi consumed in those areas: soft and plates were incubated at 37C for 24 hours. Yeast and mold were 79 15 hard. Soft chhupri is consumed immediately after processing and the enumerated by using yeast and mold agar and potato dextrose agar, 80 16 hard chhurpi is generally prepared for storage purposes, and respectively, and plates were incubated at 28C for 72 hours. 81 17 consumed as chewing gum and a masticator for gaining extra en- Enumeration of LAB and Bifidobacterium sp. were carried out using 82 18 ergy. Ladhakhi chhurpi is a similar kind of chhurpi found in other selective media such as Rogosa SL agar (supplemented with 0.132% 83 19 Himalayan regions but the processing method is little bit different.