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Cheese is not a foreigner to India! We know our cheese from ancient times, “chhena” in east Indian states like West Bengal or Odisha, “churrpi” in Sikkim or “Kalari” in Kashmir. There are many more local variants of what we Indians have known as the local variety of cheese and the roots of which can be traced back to some 4500 years, as per a study based on archaeological finds from Kotada Bhadli, in Gujarat’s Kutch district, that was published in 2020.

This fact is so ancient to Indian history, and yet why do we get teleported to France or Italy or have visual flashes of pasturelands in New Zealand or countryside in Europe when we hear the word “Cheese”? Who moved our cheese to the West and gave it the label of immigrant cuisine in India? The reasons could be many – marketing techniques, popular imported brands’ associations, or its relationship with pizza or pasta as western cuisines.

Amul was the earliest domestic cooperative to introduce processed cheese to India. Today, there are several brands in this segment serving Indian consumers, consisting of popular names like Britannia, Gowardhan, and Mother Dairy, as well as other localised brands like Choudhary Cheese, Flanders, Dairy Kraft, and many more.

Whatever we associate with our cravings for that cheesy, luscious, lip-smacking slice of pizza loaded with stretched melted mozzarella, a bite of crispy garlic bread with shreds of cheddar or parmesan on it, or a drool-worthy Jalapeno cheese toast, the fact is that processed cheese is gradually gaining its place in urban refrigerators and our daily food habits.

Every kind of processed cheese has a distinct identity or functional property; for example, processed cheese on pizza will stretch, melt, and stay in that form even after the pizza leaves the oven and reaches our serving plates. A cheese slice will maintain its agility when rolled into a paratha or cheese roll. A cheese ball, when fried, will not have its filling ooze out and will remain in a pasty state when we relish it. A cheese spread will remain solid and butterlike until it is spread on our warm toast. A cheese block should have non-sticky shreds and should remain firm when our favourite Mumbai sandwich vendor is handling it at temperatures as high as 40 degrees Celsius. While a lot of R&D, hard work, and innovation from a food/ dairy technologist goes into creating these marvels, emulsifying salts also play an important role.

Traditionally, Indian processed cheese makers used a combination of citric acid and sodium citrate to create a cheese formulation, but due to its limitations and peculiar taste profiles, the industry has shifted to the use of phosphate-based cheese emulsifying salts.

IMCD India Food & Nutrition team offers a unique range of cheese emulsifying salts for processed cheese blocks, cheese spread, melt retard cheese, cheese sauce, sliceon-slice cheese, and individually wrapped cheese slices. The solutions offer specific functionality required for different cheese formulations, considering the process of manufacturing, pH, type of cheese being used, etc. We also have antisticking solutions for cheese shreds and slices and low-sodium options. Our food lab is equipped with infrastructure and expert talent to assist our customers in product development, plant trials, scale-up trials, and finding solutions to new or recurring problems.

IMCD India not only offers functionality but also offers a unique range of taste solutions to its customers. We have processed flavours; yeast extracts, and natural cheese flavours including EMC cheese, to tingle the consumer’s taste buds and add to the cheesy experience. These taste solutions are also being loved by consumers in the most trending emerging segment of vegan cheese. Our experts from the IMCD India Food & Nutrition team would be happy to walk you through the capabilities and solutions.

So, add it to your sandwich, bowl of nachos, burgers, fried snacks, paratha rolls for your kids’ tiffin boxes, leftover chapati pizza, or as a dressing in your salad bowl, and smile and say, “Processed Cheese!”n