|
|
|
You can get e-magazine links on WhatsApp. Click here
|
|
|
|
|
|
India’s first sweet potato & carrot-based Cheddar Cheese: Meet the man behind the innovation
|
|
Wednesday, 11 June, 2025, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
|
|
Abhitash Singh, Mumbai
|
In a first-of-its-kind food innovation, Dr Chaitanya Hoskote, a 71-year-old food technologist and professor at DY Patil College, Navi Mumbai, has created a plant-based Cheddar Cheese using sweet potato and carrot, a move that could revolutionise India’s vegan and lactose-intolerant food segment.
“I don’t like copying. I wanted to create something unique for the Indian palate,” says Dr Hoskote, who holds a PhD from CFTRI, Mysuru. While plant-based cheeses are trending globally, he observed that Indian taste preferences and affordability needed a more customised solution.
His journey began with almonds and cashews, but the cost made the final product expensive. “India is a price-sensitive market,” he notes. That’s when he turned to sweet potatoes and carrots locally available, affordable, and nutritionally rich.
This innovation didn’t happen overnight. “I must have thrown away kilos of sweet potatoes and carrots during trials,” he chuckles. But each failed experiment taught him how to improve texture, taste, and firmness the key challenges in plant-based cheese development.
In a surprising breakthrough, he realised that the natural orange hue of carrots was perfect for Cheddar cheese. “No artificial colouring needed it’s all-natural and good for health,” he adds.
Notably, no known documentation exists globally of this particular sweet potato-carrot combo being used for Cheddar cheese making it a groundbreaking innovation from India.
Dr Hoskote isn’t alone in his journey. “All my team members are my former MSc students,” he proudly shares. “Working with them feels like working with family.” His work is a living example of passing on knowledge to the next generation "a relay race", as he describes it.
According to a CII report, the plant-based dairy market in India is growing at a CAGR of over 30% and is expected to touch ?2,000 crore in the near future. Yet awareness remains low. “People know paneer, not cheese. And even fewer know about plant-based cheese,” Dr Hoskote observes.
His company, Sattvedik LLP, aims to bridge this gap by producing vegan products for lactose-intolerant consumers, including vegan curd, buttermilk, shrikhand, and now, Cheddar cheese.
“Sustainability is not just a buzzword for us,” says Dr Hoskote. His process involves enzymatic extraction of milk from almonds and millets. The leftover filtrate, often discarded by others, is reused to create eight different products from shrikhand and cookies to buttermilk and table spreads. “My wastage is nearly zero.”
Sattvedik follows a B2B model, supplying to cafes and premium outlets. For instance, Barista Café’s vegan almond milk is sourced from Dr Hoskote’s facility. Discussions are also underway for exports to Indonesia and Malaysia, where demand for affordable vegan cheese is rising.
In Mumbai alone, plant-based cheese imports are worth Rs 8 to 10 crore. “If we can offer similar quality locally, it will drastically reduce their costs,” he emphasises.
Cheddar isn’t where it stops. Dr Hoskote is now working on a cost-effective plant-based Mozzarella cheese aiming to make pizzas more affordable. “A pizza shouldn’t cost more than Rs 50,” he insists.
His target? To make plant-based mozzarella accessible to even lower-income groups, enabling more people to enjoy quality vegan food.
Dr Hoskote believes India is now waking up to veganism and lactose intolerance. “Earlier, people didn’t even know they were lactose intolerant. Now, with greater awareness, demand for alternatives is rising,” he says.
At 71, with decades of experience and an ever-youthful spirit of innovation, Dr Hoskote’s journey is a shining example of how traditional knowledge can meet modern sustainability all while satisfying the Indian soul.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|