🧀 Chhena
Also known as: chhana, chenna
An acid-set curd cheese of eastern India and Bangladesh: hot milk is curdled with lemon juice and drained. Used to make rasgulla and sandesh.
Chhena (chhana) is a fresh acid-set curd cheese of the Indian subcontinent. Hot cow’s or buffalo milk is curdled with a food acid — lemon juice, calcium lactate or sour whey — without rennet, and the whey is then drained through cloth. For sweets, chhena made from cow’s milk is usually used: it is softer and kneads better.
Chhena is produced mainly in Odisha, West Bengal, eastern India and Bangladesh. Under Indian food standards (FSSAI) chhena may contain no more than 65% moisture, and paneer no more than 60%. Production in India was estimated at about 200,000 tonnes a year (a 2009 estimate).
Pressed chhena becomes paneer; soft, unpressed chhena is kneaded into a smooth dough and made into the famous sweets of Bengal and Odisha — rasgulla, sandesh, ras malai, chhena poda (baked chhena) and chhena gaja. Chhena differs from ordinary curd cheese in the acid curdling of hot milk and its very delicate, moist texture.
How it connects to milk
🧀 Chhena → made from → 🥛 Cow's milk → type of → 🥛 Milk
Links
- Made from
- 🥛 Cow's milk, 🥛 Buffalo milk
- How it is made
- 🔄 Curdling, 🔄 Filtration
- What is made from it
- ⚪ Rasgulla
- Where it is traditional
- 🌍 South Asia
- Which peoples make it
- 🧑🤝🧑 Bengalis, 🧑🤝🧑 Odia
- Product type
- 🏺 Traditional dairy products
- Part of
- 🧀 Cheese
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between chhena and paneer?
They are the same product at different stages: paneer is pressed chhena. Soft, unpressed chhena is used for sweets.
What is chhena made from?
Hot cow’s or buffalo milk curdled with lemon juice or another food acid.
What sweets are made from chhena?
Rasgulla, sandesh, ras malai, chhena poda and many other Bengali and Odia sweets.
What to read next
- 🌍 South Asia — India, Pakistan, Nepal: the world's largest dairy sector, buffalo and zebu, ghee, paneer, lassi.
- 🥛 Cow's milk — The most widespread milk in the world: versatile, inexpensive and the basis of almost all dairy products.
- 🧑🤝🧑 Bengalis — A people of the Bengal region in South Asia, in West Bengal (India) and Bangladesh; famed for chhena sweets and the sweet yogurt mishti doi.
- 🔄 Filtration — Removing debris right after milking.
- 🏺 Traditional dairy products — Products made for centuries to folk recipes: fermenting, cheesemaking, slow baking, drying. Tied to regions and peoples.
Similar
🧀 Paneer · ⚪ Rasgulla · 🧶 Oaxaca cheese · 🧀 Leipäjuusto · 🧀 Queso fresco · 🪭 Rushan
ℹ️ Dairy products contain lactose and milk proteins: if you are lactose intolerant or allergic to milk protein, ask a doctor.
Sources
- FSSAI — Food Products Standards and Food Additives Regulations, 2.1.16 Standard for Chhana and Paneer (compendium, 20.12.2022)
- Wikipedia — Chhena