16
STUDIES ON DAHI : II—GENERAL SURVEY
[Vol. XXII, Part I
to 38°C. (body warmth.), before the addition of starter. In some cases, milk was
boiled and kept simmering at a temperature of 80° to 90°C. on a low flame for 2 to
4 hours in order to concentrate the milk. This was, for example, a common practice
in Tirhut Valley and in many other places in North India. In some parts of south
India, however, raw milk or a mixture of morning milk and previous evening's
balance of production, were used. After warming the milk, it was generally stored
in unglazed earthen-ware pots or shallow earthen-ware pans. Stoneware jars,
tinned brass utensils and aluminium vessels were also in use at some places. A
small amount of starter was then mixed with a small quantity of milk and added
to the bulk, the proportion of the starter varying from 1 to 10 per cent of the
quantity of milk. The halwais in Calcutta reported that they added about 1 to
2 per cent of starter to milk. After addition of the starter, the milk was stirred
well and set aside for curdling, with or without a cover, usually near the fire place.
In order to retain the warmth of the vessel in which the milk was held, it was some-
times wrapped in cloth or with hay or the vessel was placed inside a packing of
straw or hay-box. The curd was usually ready for sale in 10 to 16 hours and some
halwais in Calcutta claimed to have prepared dahi in about 4 hours after the addition
of the starter. A number of factors, such as the vigour of the starter employed,
concentration of milk prior to addition of starter, and the temperature of incubation
may have helped in accelerating the curdling.
In some centres, such as Calcutta, a few shops sold sweet dahi containing sugar,
although generally sugar was not added to dahi but was left for the consumers to
add according to taste. For making sweetened dahi the method employed usually
was to add 8 to 10 per cent of cane sugar either at the time of boiling the milk or
soon after.
In addition to the use of skimmed milk in making dahi and passing the product
off as that prepared from whole milk, the practice of diluting the milk with water
to different degrees before boiling and before adding the starter, was also widely
prevalent. Addition of various starchy materials for improving the body of dahi
and the addition of flavouring substances to enhance its sale value was also not
uncommon. It was not possible to obtain greater details regarding these aspects
from the halwais. In South India, where the consistency of the dahi or lassi sold
was highly watery, it was evident that the villager was either adding water to dahi
at some stage before its sale or was removing the richer top layer of the milk for
making butter.
Generally, the starter employed was a portion of the previous day's batch of
dahi. In centres, where dahi production was carried out in an organized manner,
a portion of the curd was removed when fresh, mixed with a small quantity of boiled
milk, and kept over till it was used for the preparation of the next day's batch of
dahi. The practice of adding the whole batch of surplus curds to milk was en-
countered in rare instances. The system of propagating starter cultures, indepen-
dently of the dahi, was not found to be in vogue anywhere. In many places raw
milk itself was allowed to sour naturally without the addition of any starter. The
starter organisms in such cases may be expected to have been derived either from
the atmosphere or from the utensils or from milk itself.