Indigenous Frozen Dairy Products

i. Kulfi

It is a frozen dessert characterized by slight whitish to brownish appearance, compact body, icy texture and nutty, cooked, caramelized flavour. It is popular in the northern and western parts of India. In the traditional process, milk is thickened in a shallow pan with constant agitation. Sugar, nuts, essence and colour are added towards the finishing stages. Concentrated mass is poured into metallic moulds and frozen in a mixture of ice and salt.

In the industrial process, the ingredients used are the same as for ice cream – milk,cream, skim milk powder, sugar and stabilizer. Water is added to dilute the mixture(not having stabilizer and a small amount of sugar), and the fat: MSNF ratio is maintained at 1.4:1. usually, the fat in the finished product is about 16%. The required quantity of ingredients are taken in an open steam kettle and the contents heated with vigorous agitation. When the mixture has been concentrated approximately two times, the stabilizer blended with little sugar (1:3 parts by weight) is added to the concentrated mix, and the heating and agitation is continued till the mixture has been concentrated three times. The concentrated mass is then cooled promptly and frozen in a batch freezer to an overrun of 20-30%. Chopped nuts, almonds, pistachio,flavour and colour are added in the freezer. The frozen mix is transferred immediately into the moulds having freezing pockets. Wooden sticks are inserted and the mix hardened in a brine tank maintained at -23 to -30 C. The mould is then transferred into a tank having lukewarm water to defrost the bars so that they can be easily lifted from the freezing pockets. The bars are wrapped in papers, put in corrugated boxes and placed in cold store until further distribution.

ii. Malai ka baraf:

It is popular in northern and western parts of India. It is similar to kulfi and prepared by freezing a mixture of malai (heat desiccated/clotted milk), sugar, nuts and essence.This product has a plastic body, crunchy, icy texture , and delicate, nutty and caramel flavour.