Tradition
Reinvented
Will
NDDB's product and process development strategy, which heavily leans
towards traditional Indian milk products, catch the fancy of the consumer?
The
more we globalise the more we cling to our roots. It is not surprising
therefore, that the flavour of the new millennium is India’s ethnic
milk based sweets, desserts and puddings. In India, milk sweets are
an inseparable part all celebrations. Boxes of sweets are a harbinger
of good news. In fact, one of the most popular and oldest Bengali sweet
forms is named ‘sandesh’ (message). A box of it accompanies the good
news that a family wishes to announce in its social circle.
The
ethnic dairy delicacies have enough variety to serve both the ‘class’
and ‘mass’ markets, domestically and globally. Most of these products
have been popular from ancient time and offer a range that is delightfully
different in terms of look, taste and flavour. They are being reinvented
through modern process technologies for mass production to meet the
consumer’s new demands that combine purity, quality and convenience.
The
products developed, have followed age-old methods of preservation and
conservation through heat desiccation, fermentation, coagulation and
clarification. The aim is to recover the maximum output through tiny
scale or household level processes and technologies that are adequate
and appropriate to local situations, resources and food habits. Indian
mithais (sweets) have been developed to preserve the nutritional goodness
of milk and to extend its shelf life under high ambient temperatures.
Sweets are mainly prepared from three intermediate product bases: khoa
(partially heat desiccated milk), chhana (coagulated milk after draining
of whey) and chakka (concentrated curd). Ghee and makkhan (butter) are
prepared to conserve milk fat in areas where production of milk is surplus.
Khoa
is a major intermediate product base for a variety of sweets. It is
obtained by rapidly evaporating milk in shallow pans to a total solids
content of about 70 per cent. The product could be preserved for several
days and is also used as a base for different kinds of sweets like peda,
burfi and gulabjamun. Another important base is chhana. It is obtained
by acid coagulation of hot milk and draining out the whey. Chhana-based
sweets are popularly called Bengali sweets. The third major intermediate
base is chakka. It is a fermented product obtained from dahi (curd)
and is used in a variety of Gujarati and Maharashtrian desserts.
The
regional preferences for mithias are often linked to availability of
intermediate milk products. Thus, in North India with its large milk
surplus, khoa is used to make sweets like burfi, gulabjamun and kalakand.
East India has a wide range of chhana-based sweets such as sandesh and
rasgolla. West India has a range of cultured products, based on curd
(dahi) such as srikhand. South India, with limited milk availability,
has resorts to milk drinking, but dahi is widely consumed as a part
of the meal.
Out
of the total milk production of 84.6 million tonnes (2001), about 50
per cent is converted into traditional products like ghee, makkhan and
khoa.
Market
size
The
value of Indian dairy output exceeded Rs 1000 billion in 2001. Of this,
the output of traditional dairy products is estimated at over Rs 400
billion. The share of the organised sector in the indigenous products
is at present only Rs 50 billion, but is expected to rise rapidly in
the coming years. A new market of over Rs 50 billion is expected largely
from ethnic products such as flavoured milk, curd, paneer, khoa and
chhana based sweets, butter milk, lassi and srikhand. This will largely
meet the new demand created by increasing purchasing power and disposable
income of the mass middle class in the Indian market.
Global
market
A
market for Indian milk-based sweets is developing overseas. In North
America alone, this market is estimated at $500 million. Twenty million
Indians, over half of them living in the West, are part of the upper
income group. The Indian diaspora presents an exciting avenue for globalisation
of mithais. Entrepreneurs in Europe, North America and Australia are
looking into the prospects of manufacturing them. Indian mithais have
good commercial market in developed countries where the share of food
in the total household expenditure is small.
A
recent FAO publication lists over 300 ethnic products in about 100 developing
countries of Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.
Process
innovations
Organised
efforts have already begun to evolve or adapt technologies for large-scale
production and marketing of indigenous dairy products. A global market
economy has also facilitated a free flow of technology to produce Indian
milk-based sweets. More and more players in this sector have started
production of mithais on a commercial scale, but their impact has been
limited. A major push in this direction has come from the national brands
like Haldiram, Bikanerwala, Ganguram, Chitales, Bikaji and Ghasitram.
Extensive
research and development is required to study the molecular level of
various physico-chemical changes that are responsible for imparting
the desired body, flavour, and texture attributes to traditional dairy
products.
Product
development
This
aspect should receive high priority to carve a place for milk sweets
in the competitive market. The dairy industry must respond to new demands
created by consumer consciousness for health and low cholesterol diet.
A comprehensive research and development effort is required to arrive
at new variations of traditional milk products. What is also urgently
required is....
.....CONTD
TO
READ FURTHER... SUBSCRIBE TO YOUR
COPY TODAY!!!
