Churpy-An Important Yak Milk Product and its Traditional Way of Making for Livelihood of Tribal People of Zanaskar, Ladakh

Zanaskar is famous for its traditional way of Churpy making. Farmers are not using any kind of machine in the entire process of Churpy making nor any preservative for its packaging. Women plays a vital role in the whole process of Churpy making. This residue free Churpy is now a days in huge demand especially in the Buddhist dominated areas of Leh and fetches handsome money in the local market. Tribal people of Ladakh prepare various types of indigenous milk products using their traditional knowledge. Among them Cheese (Churpy) is one of the important by product of female Yak milk (omha), and one of the important nutritional foods of Ladakh. Farmers usually remain busy with processing of various traditional milk products, such as butter, cheese (churpy), curd etc. in traditional ways and preserve them for winter.