"Hard Chhurpi" is made with yak milk.
"Soft Chhurpi" is made with cow milk.
The less fat content in the milk the stronger the chhurpi will be. So full fat milk will give you a soft, brittle chhurpi, and skim milk will give you a much harder chhurpi.
If your dog gets gassy from milk you can use lactose free skimmed milk.
Method:
- Start by boiling the milk on medium heat, stirring constantly. Add a little bit of Himalayan Salt.
- Add lime (vinegar or lemon juice) juice to the milk - the milk will separate into whey and curds. For a gallon of milk use 1/4 cup of acid (that would be the lime juice).
- Strain out the thick cheese.
- Use a large piece of muslin fabric laid out on a table. Put all the cheese curds on top of the muslin fabric and fold it closed. Pressurize the muslin so that ALL the moisture is removed from the cheese curds. A cheese pressure is the best for removing all the moisture from the cheese. Or you can use two planks and pipe clamps, putting the cheese within the cloth between the planks and tightening the clamps every few days to press out the moisture.
- The more of the moisture you remove the harder the chew will be.
- Dry the cheese for at least 12 hours. The darker the color the harder and dryer the cheese is.
- You can dehydrate the cheese at 150 degrees (or low oven like you would dehydrate rusks).
- You can also dehydrate it by hanging it outside in very dry, low humidity places like you would jerky.
