Created thousands of years ago in remote areas of the Himalayas, chhurpi can be eaten for up to 20 years.
Nepal's remote Himalayan village of Parvathy Kund is shrouded in a thick gray mist that is almost untouched. One of the few people in sight was an old woman sitting at the door of the wooden house, who gave me and my friend a toothless welcome smile. "Would you like to eat some chhurpi?" My friend asked the lady if she had just bought a few kilograms of local cheese from a factory across from her house.
"Even for a whole year, I couldn't chew that one!" She responded with a smile. After all, chhurpi is considered the hardest cheese in the world.
A traditional product prepared by herders in the Eastern Himalayan Highlands, chhurpi is a protein-rich cheese with a smoky flavor and a hard consistency that gradually becomes more chewy as you chew longer. Made from chauri-produced milk — a hybrid of male and female cows — it is the most popular snack in eastern India and much of Nepal and Bhutan. People often chew small pieces of this stuff for hours on end, like hard bubble gum, which slowly softens over time and saliva. The unique hard texture of solid snacks is the result of the high altitude climate and harsh lifestyle of the Himalayas.
The day before, over the village of Parvathy Kund, 4,000 metres above sea level, a chhurpi manufacturer named Pasang Darche Tamang from the nearby village of Gatlang patiently stirred chauri milk in a makeshift tent at the end of the cliff. Fog rolled from the green valley below into the opening of the tent, and relentless raindrops fell on the blue canvas of the tent. Smoke from the wood fire filled the tents, and pieces of dried meat hung from boiling milk cauldrons to prolong its harsh shelf life in the Himalayas. He kept turning the handle of the milk and cream separator for more than three hours.
"It takes strength," Tamand said. "Without power, the machine won't even turn."
Produced in remote areas of the Himalayas, Chhurpi is considered the hardest cheese in the world
Every morning, Tamang wakes up at 04:00 and starts squeezing his 25 chauris to make chhurpi. Several yak herders from nearby ranches spend the day in their tents in Tamang to store their own cows. Including the milk of his herd, Tamang collects more than 300 litres of milk per day, which must turn into chhurpi immediately before it can spoil.
Living on the roof of the world with limited access to trade and arable land, livestock has been the backbone of many Himalayan communities for centuries. According to Mukta Singh Lama Tamang (not associated with Pasang), an anthropologist at Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu, dairy products have historically been an integral part of Himalayan culture and livelihoods. Mukta says chhurpi was concocted thousands of years ago because of the need to do something productive with extra milk that can no longer be consumed or sold.
One of the unique features of chhurpi is its very low moisture content. This makes it difficult to bite into, but it also helps the cheese to remain edible for months or even years when fermented for 6 to 12 months, dried and properly stored in the animal's skin. In the remote Himalayan highlands, this makes chhurpi particularly popular, as yak herders are able to rely on it on long journeys, as well as transport and sell it in markets. Since both fermentation and dehydration extend the shelf life of foods, chhurpi is particularly suitable for high altitude areas, where there is little food and other protein-rich foods. Before smoking and drying, soft chohurpi is often used in curries, soups and pickles along with cucumbers and radishes, while the hard ones are chewed separately as a snack.
Chhurpi is very dry and can be eaten for up to 20 years if properly stored in animal skins
The night before, a few hundred metres below his cheese-making tent, three calves had been stuffed into Pasang's small stone shed, while his 25 calves were tied outside. Pasang's father, Finjo, boiled chauri milk over an open fire, and when it was ready, he, Pasang, and Pasang's uncle were very happy to sip hot milk, and the flickering flames illuminated the hardened lines of their sunburned faces. The three have been living in the alpine steppes for weeks, grazing chauris on verdant pastures and collecting fresh milk that turns into chhurpi every day. Their lives revolve around their animals entirely.
"We're happy to have all the chauris and be able to make chhurpi because we're illiterate and that's the only way [we] can sustain ourselves." That's what we know, how to make chhurpi, and that's how we're going to survive. Not only can we inherit our ancient culture, but it also contributes to our economy," Pasang said.
It was getting heavier and heavier outside, and Fincho recalled: "There was no road, and we didn't have enough supplies to get the necessities. We only had milk and nothing else. We used to use it to prepare anything, like chhurpi and butter, and then trade it in nearby villages in exchange for rice, grain, salt, and oil. If we need money, we'll go to bigger markets like Trishuli to buy vegetables, and then we'll bring them back to our village to sell for money. It's tough.
Pasang and his family collect fresh milk every day and then make it into chhurpi cheese
Although the road has slowly passed through the valley here, life is still difficult for herders like Basang. He has been raising chauris for about 20 years and has spent quite a long life away from his family, spending months a year with livestock on the pasture.
"There's a special kind of grass that only grows at this [3,500 to 4,000m] height, called buggi," he said. Chauris don't lose weight when they eat buggi in the winter. They produce stronger milk when they graze here, which tastes better. ”
Chhurpi is not only organic, made from the best milk of chauri, which specializes in eating herbs and herbs from alpine regions, but also considered very healthy and nutritious due to its very low fat content and high protein value. Follow an age-old preparation method that has been perfected for hundreds of years without the need for any preservatives or additives.
For centuries, chauris have been vital to the livelihoods of many nomadic communities in the Himalayas
After removing the cream, the skim milk is thoroughly boiled and mixed with whey from previous curds and other acidic agents such as lime or citric acid. Cheese curds form almost immediately, coagulate and separate from the clear whey. The solid blocks are filtered and collected in cotton or jute bags, then tapped with large stones or other heavy objects and pressed tightly for 24 hours to remove excess moisture. These solid cheese blocks are fermented for a few days, then cut into rectangular pieces, dried in the shade, and then smoked over a kitchen fire, giving chhurpi a unique taste and texture. Properly pickled chhurpi will remain edible without mold for up to 20 years. However, the longer it heals, the drier and harder it becomes. According to Pasang, chhurpi tastes the best"
Long before visiting Pasang, I had tried to eat a chhurpi cube in Kathmandu, which is often found in local stores, and I calculated how long it would take to have fun. My Nepalese friend ate a piece in 6 minutes and 53 seconds, but after working so long, my teeth hurt and my chhurpi didn't have any scratches. Soft chhurpi tastes similar to raw cheese, but the harder it is, the more flavor it loses. Hard chhurpi is said to take minutes to hours to soften, and then it tastes like a dense, milky solid that dissolves slowly with a smoky flavor. Admittedly, the so-called hardest cheese in the world is not everyone's cup of tea, and I have never bitten it so far, but Nepalese people across the country love it.
When I asked Pasang if he liked chhurpi, there was a spark in his eyes despite all the hardships involved in the production process. "Ekdum!" He replied, in Nepali, "Of course! ”
Pasan wakes up at 4:00 a.m. every morning to start milking