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Fermentation Atlas

Fermented milk from Maharashtra, Gujarat

Shrikhand (from chakka)श्रीखंड

Dahi (curd) is hung in muslin until most of the whey drips out, leaving a thick, sour paste called chakka. Sugar, and often cardamom, saffron or fruit, is beaten in to make shrikhand, a sweet, semi-soft dessert. Made in 5 steps over 22 days – 29 days. The longest step, keep cold, takes 21–28 days (Suvera P 2026) and runs at 3–5 °C (Suvera P 2026). Lactococcus lactis and Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step21–28 daysMeasured[suvera2026]Keep cold
Temperature3–5 °CReported[suvera2026]Keep cold
AciditypH 4.4–4.5Measured[suvera2026]Set the dahi
Fully documentedFermented milk22 days – 29 daysMore fermented milkMore from India

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceRatios by weight from a published shrikhand made with chakka from cow milk; that study also added 2 % oat powder and a probiotic culture, left out here. Home recipes vary in sugar and flavourings.
60 partsChakka (strained dahi)[suvera2026]
40 partsGranulated sugar · India's standard caps sucrose at 72.5 % of the dry matter[suvera2026][fssai2022]
0.03 %Natural cardamom flavour[suvera2026]
Starterbackslop (via dahi) or defined culture

Total time across the recorded steps: 22 days – 29 days

Start
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90 °C

What changes: The milk is heated to kill microbes and firm up the later curd

Step 1 of 5
Heat the milk
Time
10 min
Reported
Temperature
90 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactococcus lactis
S. thermophilus
L. delbrueckii

India's standard requires the milk for chakka to be heat-treated.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

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

Shrikhand starts like labneh or Greek yoghurt, with curd strained in cloth, but large amounts of sugar are then beaten in, so it is eaten as a sweet. The whey removal happens after fermentation, which India's rules allow only for concentrated products such as chakka.

Related ferments

Variants

  • AmrakhandMango pulp is added.
  • Full cream and fruit shrikhandIndian rules set at least 10.0 % milk fat (full cream) or 7.0 % (fruit) on a dry basis.

Safety

India's standard requires the milk for chakka to be heat-treated. Keep shrikhand chilled; in one trial at 4 °C, yeasts and moulds appeared after a week.

History and sources

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

An old dessert of Maharashtra and Gujarat.

  1. [fssai2022] Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations 2011, compendium version XXVI (20.12.2022), regulation 2.1 fermented milk products (chakka and shrikhand)gov
  2. [suvera2026] Suvera P., Bihola A., Adil S., Patel A.C., Joshi N.D. 2026, Storage stability and quality characteristics of oat powder incorporated probiotic shrikhand prepared using multi-strain probiotic culture, Scientific Reportspaper
  3. [tamang2016] Tamang J.P., Watanabe K., Holzapfel W.H. 2016, Review, diversity of microorganisms in global fermented foods and beverages, Frontiers in Microbiology 7:377paper