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Fermentation Atlas

Fermented milk from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal

Chaas / mattha / moru / majjige (traditional South Asian buttermilk)छाछ

Chaas is the thin buttermilk left when dahi is churned for butter, drunk salted or spiced with meals. Milk is boiled, cooled to body heat, set overnight with a little old dahi, then churned with water until the butter floats off. Dairies make a cultured version from soured low-fat milk thinned with water, salt and cumin. Made in 5 steps over 9 h – 5.2 days. The longest step, drink it fresh, or keep cold, takes 4 h – 5 days (FAO 1990). Salt is 0.5 % (Maheta R.G 2015). Lactic acid bacteria of the dahi and Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step4 h – 5 daysReported[fao-tmp][maheta2014]Drink it fresh, or keep cold
Temperature35–39 °CReported[maheta2014]Set the dahi overnight
Salt0.5 %Reported[maheta2014]Thin, salt and spice

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceHousehold chaas has no fixed amounts; the starter rate is from FAO (1990). The salt and cumin rates are from a tested dairy recipe for spiced cultured buttermilk (Maheta et al. 2014).
0.5 to 1 % of the milkDahi or buttermilk from the day before, as starter[fao-tmp]
Cow or buffalo milk, boiled and cooled to body temperature[fao-tmp]
Cold water · Churned in, or mixed into the buttermilk[fao-tmp]
0.5 % w/vSalt (dairy cultured buttermilk)[maheta2014]
0.4 % w/vCumin, finely crushed (dairy cultured buttermilk)[maheta2014]
Starterbackslop (yesterday's dahi or buttermilk)

Total time across the recorded steps: 9 h – 5.2 days

Start
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What changes: The milk is boiled, then cooled to body warmth

Step 1 of 5
Boil the milk and cool to body heat
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
S. thermophilus
L. delbrueckii

Output: milk at body temperature.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

boiling kills most milk bacteria

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

Chaas is the by-product of churning dahi for butter, not a ferment of its own; the souring happens in the dahi, and the butter is taken off before it is drunk. FAO describes lassi as this same buttermilk mixed with a little cold water and drunk sweetened or salted; chaas is usually salted and spiced.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Mohi (Nepal, Himalaya)The Nepali name for dahi buttermilk, found across the Indian subcontinent (FAO also records it as mahi).
  • Cultured (dairy) buttermilkLow-fat milk soured with yoghurt cultures at 37 °C for 5 h, stirred, chilled below 10 °C and mixed with 30 % water, salt and cumin; keeps 5 days cold.

Safety

Traditional buttermilk does not keep; FAO gives lassi, chaas thinned with cold water, a shelf life of no more than 4 to 5 hours, so it is drunk as soon as it is made. Dairy cultured buttermilk kept 5 days refrigerated.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

FAO records that in India the buttermilk left from churning dahi is called chhaas, and in Nepal mahi; takra is praised in Ayurvedic texts.

  1. [fao-tmp] FAO 1990, The technology of traditional milk products in developing countries, Animal Production and Health Paper 85, II. Acidified milks (Dahi; Lassi and chhaas, India and Pakistan)gov
  2. [maheta2014] Maheta R.G., Balakrishnan S., Aparnathi K.D. 2015, Standardization of the method for utilization of paneer whey in cultured buttermilk, Journal of Food Science and Technology 52(5):2788, doi:10.1007/s13197-014-1301-2paper
  3. [himal19] Mechanistic insights into probiotic properties of lactic acid bacteria associated with ethnic fermented dairy products, Frontiers in Microbiology 2019, 10:502, doi:10.3389/fmicb.2019.00502 (mohi named as buttermilk; mesophilic lactococci lead)paper
  4. [wp] Wikipedia, Buttermilk (interlanguage names)wiki