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Paneer—An Indian soft cheese variant: a review

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Abstract

Paneer, a popular indigenous dairy product of India, is similar to an unripened variety of soft cheese which is used in the preparation of a variety of culinary dishes and snacks. It is obtained by heat and acid coagulation of milk, entrapping almost all the fat, casein complexed with denatured whey proteins and a portion of salts and lactose. Paneer is marble white in appearance, having firm, cohesive and spongy body with a close-knit texture and a sweetish-acidic-nutty flavour. Preparation of paneer using different types of milk and varied techniques results in wide variation in physico-chemical, microbiological and sensory quality of the product. Paneer blocks of required size are packaged in laminated plastic pouches, preferably vacuum packaged, heat sealed and stored under refrigeration. Paneer keeps well for about a day at ambient temperature and for about a week under refrigeration (7 °C). The spoilage of paneer is mainly due to bacterial action. Successful attempts have been made to enhance the shelf life of paneer. This review deals with the history, method of manufacture, factors affecting the quality, physico-chemical changes during manufacture, chemical composition and nutritional profile, packaging and shelf life of paneer.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Livestock Products Technology, Faculty of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry, Sher-e-kashmir University of Agriculture & Technology, R.S. Pura, Jammu, 181102, India

    Sunil Kumar & Zuhaib F. Bhat

  2. Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 221005, India

    D. C. Rai

  3. Food Bioprocessing, Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK

    K. Niranjan

Authors
  1. Sunil Kumar
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  2. D. C. Rai
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  3. K. Niranjan
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  4. Zuhaib F. Bhat
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Correspondence to Sunil Kumar.

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Kumar, S., Rai, D.C., Niranjan, K. et al. Paneer—An Indian soft cheese variant: a review. J Food Sci Technol 51, 821–831 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-011-0567-x

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