page_title: Dairy in India
section_title: Cuisine
hierarchical_section_title: Dairy in India / Culture / Cuisine
caption_attribution_description: English: Milk venders used to collect milk in typical traditional brass containers known as Gagar in Majha Region of Punjab which include Amritsar ,Gurdaspur and Tarantaran .The image clicked in Amritsar in June 2019.
context_page_description: Dairy plays a significant role in the economy and culture of India. Dairy production in what is now India has historical roots that reach back 8,000 years to the domestication of cattle. In the 20th century, Operation Flood transformed the Indian dairy industry into the world's largest.
  India has the highest level of milk production and consumption among all countries. The annual production was 186,000 tonnes as of 2018.
context_section_description: Dairy has been an integral part of Indian cuisine since the ancient times. In the Vedic period, milk was one of the primary elements of the typical diet. There is clear evidence of milk being widely consumed as a beverage by the beginning of the Common Era.
  North Indian cuisines are particularly well known to heavily rely on dairy products. A distinctive feature of Punjabi cuisine is the use of paneer, a type of cheese. The Punjabi dal makhani is a rich stew of black lentils, kidney beans, butter and cream. The main paneer dishes are mattar paneer, palak paneer, shahi paneer, paneer kofta, paneer bhurgy, etc. Paneer is also used for making paneer pakora (a fried snack) and paneer paratha (a layered chapati stuffed with paneer). 
  Chhena is another traditional dairy product, used as a base or filler material for preparation of a variety of Indian sweets such as rasgulla, rasmalai and sandesh. Chenna is similar to paneer but softer and hence formless. The country's production of chhena was estimated to be 200,000 tonnes annually in 2009. 
  Ghee, a form of clarified butter, is commonly used in Indian cuisines. It used with rice preparations like biryani and as a topping above breads. It has a strong flavour and is also used in dishes, though such usage has become limited since the advent of refined oils.
  Cream is also usually used in dishes in North Indian cuisines to make the gravy rich and creamy.
caption: Vendors in Amritsar transporting milk in gagar, 2019.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "NIKON", "Image Model": "COOLPIX P900", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "COOLPIX P900   V1.3", "Image DateTime": "2019:06:06 08:13:55", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "234", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "13556", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5375", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/800", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Standard Output Sensitivity", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2019:06:06 08:13:55", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2019:06:06 08:13:55", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "29/10", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "17", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4608", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3456", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "990", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "95", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "High gain down", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}