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Kaladi:-Traditional ripned cheese from Udhampur district of J&K.

Kaladi:-Traditional ripned cheese from Udhampur district of J&K

 

What is Udhampur Kaladi?

Kaladi is a traditional ripened cheese of Udhampur district of Jammu & Kashmir. It is considered as world”s most unique cheese due to its typical character.  i.e “Dried from outside but remains moist from inside”.  It is often called Mozzarella of Jammu  due to its unique texture & preparation method. It is one of the favorite food of Dogras, Gujjar community & Bakarwall tribes of Jammu & Kashmir. 

  • It is made by churning  full fat cow or buffalo milk in Iron pot & then curdled by adding whey water . The milk solid is then shaped by hand to form round flat shape and kept on bamboo tokri or donas (small bowl made of leaves) to drain the excess water from it and them sundried for 3-4 days resulting Kaladi dried from outside but remains moist from Inside.  
  • It is popularly known as “Doodh Chapati” (Milk bread) in Hindi , “Kalari” in Dogri and “Maish krej” in Kashmiri.
  • This authentic Dogra cheese is widely consumed as street snacks in the Jammu & Kashmir region. It is pan fried its own fat untill it develop a crispy golden brown crust and topped with tomato, cabbage , onion, spices etc and then placed in Kulcha pocket. 

Characteristic of Udhampur Kaladi cheese:-

Udhampur Kaladi cheese which is populary know as Mozzorrella of Jammu is a traditional ripened cheese from the Ramnagar area of Udhampur district of Jammu & Kashmir. It has several characteristic like:-

  • Udhampur Kaladi is only made at Udhampur district of Jammu region and not available in anywhere in the world. Women play the most important role in the kaladi preparation and its skill is passed on every Gujjar & Bakarwal women folk in Jammu Region from generation to generation. 
  • The main microbiotas of Kalaid cheese are:- Aerobic psychrotrophs, Lactococci, Thermophilic and Mesophilic lactobacilli, mesophilic aerobes and Enterobacteriaceae.
  • Freshly made Kaladi cheese have softer texture but it keeps hardens as it gets older after some times. It will be so hardened to cut them with knife but the taste of Kaladi will not changes as it gets older. 
  • Cheese is fermented naturally and then sun dried resulting dried from outside but remains moist from Inside. Freshly prepared kaladi cheese has a soft texture but after sun drying for 3-4 days, it hardens like mozzorella cheese. It is very dense cheese having mozzarella like texutre.
  • Kaladi made with cow milk will have pale yellow color whereas Kaladi made with buffalo milk will have off white color.The Women of Udhampur prepare kaladi cheese which is smaller in size but softer in nature. The quality & variety of Kaladi cheese depends upon the types of milk (cow milk, buffalo milk, goat milk) used in preparation. 
  • Eating Kaladi cheese provide us several health benefit dur to its anti-oxidative properties. 

https://thebetterindia.com/61166/kalari-cheese-kashmir/

Brief History of Udhampur Kaladi Cheese:-

The credit goes to the local Gujjar Tribes of Jammu who used to preserve the excess milk by converting into kaladi cheese during long journey in the summer time in the hilly area century ago.  It then become popular as a street food under the Dogra cuisine of Jammu region which is often served as a Kaladi Kulcha. Gujjar is the largest Schedule Tribes of Jammu & Kashmir.

  • Kaladi Kulcha is a popular snacks of Jammu region of J&K where kaladi cheese is sauteed in its own fat and stuffed in the Kulcha with onions, cabbage, tomato etc. The main region of Jammu where Kalari cheese are manufactured are:- Ramnagar, Udhampur, Pancheri, Rajouri & Poonch. 
  • In the recent year, it has gained world wide publicity due to its GI Tag recognization in the year 2023  as well as wider publicty by the Kalari factory of Udhampur & Pahalgam. 

 

Types of Kaladi Cheese

Types of Kaladi cheese depends upon the types of milk used in its preparation. Kaladi cheese is usually prepared from raw or Unpasturised full fat Cow or Buffalo but in cottage women also uses Goat or sheep milk to fulfil the requirement of their family in absense of Cow or Buffalo milk. Local women of Jammu region play an important role in Kaladi cheese prepartion.  Kaladi cheese made from Buffalo milk will have white in color whereas kaladi made from cow milk will have pale yellow in color. 

  • Buffalo milk Kaladi:- it is most common Kaladi of Udhampur due to its wide availability in this region. It contain higher amout of fat & protein as compare to any types of Kaladi. 
  • Cow milk Kaladi:– It is the second best option after the Buffalo milk kaladi and the fact that it offers optimal amount of fat & protein. 
  • Goat milk Kaladi :- It is produced very less in quantity as the goat or sheeps milk is limited to very low quantity. Mainly the local women who involved in cottage industry in Jammu used to prepare it as they farms only goat or sheeps. 

It is widely consumed in Jammu & Kashmir as a street snacks food. It is usually pan seared untill it gets its golden brown color and then topped with chopped vegetables and rolled into Kulcha and served with garlic & chilly chutney. 

https://homegrown.co.in/homegrown-explore/kalari-a-homegrown-cheese-from-jammu-is-one-of-indias-best-kept-culinary-secrets

 GI Tag  & its popularity

It has been granted Geographical Indication Tag (G.I Tag) to Udhampur Kaladi cheese in October 2023. The Application was filed by Shyam Kaladi Cooperative limited at Dharmthal district Udhampur under application No- 807 in class 29 and facilitated by Dept of Dairy & food and NABARD Jammu & Kashmir. 

  • Udhampur Kaladi cheese was presented to the 53 foreign deligates of G-20 Tourism working group meeting held at Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir. Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh was the first to express his joy over Centre’s mode to serve this Authentic Dogra cheese to the G-20 Deligates. 
  • Under the Jammu & Kashmir livelihood mission (UMEED Mission) women of many villages of Udhampur district of Jammu are making Kaladi cheese and govt are promoting it on local as well national level. 
  • It is a very popular delicacy of Dogri people of J&k and served at the wedding and other events. 

Example of some of the most popular brand of Kaladi cheese & its link 

 

 

Content Reference:-

The above content has been compiled after referring various culinary websites, Govt websites,youtube, bloggers, social medica platform like instagram, facebook, twitter etc,  culinary books, Research Papers, Research articles, Food magazines, news papers, personal interaction with local people of Udhampur & adjoining region of Jammu & Kashmir who are involved in the preparation of Kaladi & many  more. The picture which i have used has been taken from the open source website .Some of the important website referred for the above content are:- 

Author: chef radhe
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