🧀 Chhena

Chhena (chhana) is a fresh acid-set cheese from eastern India and Bangladesh: hot milk is curdled with a food-grade acid and the whey is drained off. India's FSSAI standard allows lactic, citric or malic acid, vinegar, glucono-delta-lactone or sour whey for this. No rennet is needed.

Just one thing sets chhena apart from paneer: it is not pressed, so it stays soft and moist. Under the FSSAI standard, chhena may contain up to 65% moisture and paneer up to 60%, with at least 50% milk fat in the dry matter. FAO notes that cow's milk is better for sweets: it gives a light-yellow, delicate, smooth chhena. Buffalo milk yields more cheese, but it is whiter, firmer and coarser.

According to FAO, cow's-milk chhena contains about 53% fat and 37% protein in the dry matter. According to the same FAO report (1990), India produced about 100,000 tonnes of chhena a year. It is carried in woven baskets so that the whey keeps draining, then kneaded and made into sweets such as sandesh and rasgulla. One kilogram of chhena makes 90–100 rasgulla balls.

Chhena or paneer? Chhena is the soft one: it is not pressed, so it stays moist, with up to 65% moisture under the FSSAI standard, while paneer, which is simply pressed chhena, is allowed up to 60%. By process chhena also differs from rennet cheeses, because it is set with acid and heat and needs no rennet. FAO notes that cow's milk gives the delicate, smooth chhena for sweets, whereas buffalo milk gives more cheese that is whiter, firmer and coarser. In sweets chhena is kneaded.

Look for “chhena”, “chhana” or “chenna” on the pack of fresh cheese; a pressed block sold as “paneer” is the firmer relative. The ingredient list should show milk and an acid, with no rennet. Chhena is fresh and moist, so it sits in the chilled section of South Asian groceries and sweet-making suppliers, and keeps in the fridge set between 0 and 5 °C. For sweets choose the soft kind made from cow's milk.

Why it matters to you. Chhena is a fresh, moist product (up to 65% moisture under the FSSAI standard), so keep it in the fridge, which should be set between 0 and 5 °C. Looking for a substitute? Its closest relative is paneer, which is simply pressed chhena. For sweets, choose soft chhena made from cow's milk, as FAO experts advise.