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Cheese from India, Jammu and Kashmir

Kradi / Maish krej (Kashmiri kalari)Maish krej

Kradi, or maish krej, is the Kashmiri name for kalari, a semi-soft fresh cheese that Kashmir studies describe as made from buttermilk and sold in markets. In one news account of the cheese (there called kaladi, or Moshkrej), a maker in Shopian stirs buffalo milk with a dash of buttermilk over a clay stove, drains off the whey and shapes a soft round disc. Market samples from Shopian, Pahalgam, Rajouri and Poonch ran from 45 to 59 % moisture at pH 5.04–5.41, with no standard method between makers, and the cheese spoils within 5–7 days at room temperature.

Fully documentedCheeseFamily: Kalari

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe Kashmir sources give no amounts and report that makers follow no standard method. The news account says only that a dash of buttermilk goes into buffalo milk.
Buffalo milkThe maker in the news account stirred buffalo milk with a dash of buttermilk[kaladi101]
Buttermilka dashThe papers describe kradi as made from buttermilk; the news account adds a dash of it to the milk[joseph2022][kaladi101]
Starterthe maker in the news account stirs a dash of buttermilk into buffalo milk
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What changes: A dash of buttermilk goes into the buffalo milk

Step 1 of 4
Add a dash of buttermilk to the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Lactobacillus curvatus
L. sakei
L. plantarum

In the news account the maker works beside a clay stove (chulha) in the hills of Sukudo, Shopian.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Kradi, or maish krej, is the Kashmiri name for kalari, a semi-soft fresh cheese that Kashmir studies describe as made from buttermilk and sold in markets. In one news account of the cheese (there called kaladi, or Moshkrej), a maker in Shopian stirs buffalo milk with a dash of buttermilk over a clay stove, drains off the whey and shapes a soft round disc. Market samples from Shopian, Pahalgam, Rajouri and Poonch ran from 45 to 59 % moisture at pH 5.04–5.41, with no standard method between makers, and the cheese spoils within 5–7 days at room temperature. Lactic acid bacteria; Lactobacillus curvatus, L. sakei, L. plantarum, Pediococcus pentosaceus and Enterococcus faecium were the five dominant isolates from kradi does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
AciditypH 5–5.4Measured[punoo2018]Drain the whey and shape a soft disc

What makes this one different

Kradi is the same cheese as Jammu's kalari, under its Kashmiri names. The Kashmir studies describe it as a fresh, semi-soft cheese made from buttermilk, and market samples varied widely in fat and moisture.

Composition
Fat 6.35–28.63, protein 20.96–32.37, moisture 44.91–59.01 across four market areas (units as published)
Variation
Samples differed significantly between market areas, which the author reads as a sign that there is no standard method

Related ferments

Safety

Market kradi carried 3.92–4.38 log cfu/g of coliforms, and fresh kradi spoils within 5–7 days at room temperature. In a storage trial, lactic bacteria grew at ambient temperature but fell in the fridge and freezer, and freezing kept most quality measures steady (Mushtaq 2015).

Hazards the sources name: Coliforms, 3.92–4.38 log cfu/g in market samples.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

A 2025 news feature quotes a Shopian resident who says the Gujjar community still made kaladi until the late 1990s, and that people then abandoned it because of social bias and class perceptions. A trader there says that after the Covid-19 pandemic people began to value organic and handmade food, which helped bring kaladi back.

Process times
The sources we found give no figure for how long any of its steps take.
  1. [punoo2018] Punoo H.A. 2018, Physico-Chemical and Microbiological Composition of Kradi Cheese, Indian Journal of Dairy Science 71(2) (abstract)paper
  2. [mushtaq2015] Mushtaq M., Gani A., Shetty P.H., Masoodi F.A., Ahmad M. 2015, Himalayan cheese (Kalari/kradi), effect of different storage temperatures on its physicochemical, microbiological and antioxidant properties, LWT - Food Science and Technology 63(2):837–845 (abstract)paper
  3. [mushtaq2021] Mushtaq M., Gani A., Noor N., Masoodi F.A. 2021, Phenotypic and probiotic characterization of isolated LAB from Himalayan cheese (Kradi/Kalari) and effect of simulated gastrointestinal digestion on its bioactivity, LWT - Food Science and Technology 149:111669 (abstract)paper
  4. [joseph2022] Joseph-Leenose-Helen J., Noor N., Mushtaq M., Gani A. 2022, Ultrasonics as a tool for development of pine-needle extract loaded bee wax edible packaging for value addition of Himalayan cheese, Ultrasonics Sonochemistry 82:105914paper
  5. [kaladi101] Wuska U.I. 2025, In Kashmir, traditional kaladi cheese is melting into the hearts of locals and tourists, 101Reporters, 8 October 2025web