What is Analogue Paneer? Half-Priced & How It's Made

Local paneer is different from other cottage cheese used within homes and commonly found markets. The making process, the price for the product at the market and even the nutritional value does not fit the definition of the paneer that we actually enjoy. This claim is quite familiar to the listener: it is quite possible to hear that this vegetable or this product is fake, or hybrid. These days, this imaginary line between what is real and what is not is very difficult to draw. In the real and hybrids world, there is a real and hybrids fake paneer also available in the market. This is known as analogue paneer For this, the expert milk is mixed with citric acid and salt and kept for some time to coagulate. Although it is not against the law, it is usually being marketed as what is known as cottage cheese. How do we differentiate? How is it made?

All About Analogue Paneer
As per FSSAI- Food safety and standards regulation (food products standards and food advertising) Act 2018, The term ‘Analogue in the case of dairy shall mean any food product in which total or partial of one or more of the food component of milk is replaced by its substitute and the various aspects of the final product including sensory and functional characteristics resemble that of milk or.
conditioned as dairy product or composite dairy product as defined in these regulations.” Therefore, about the preparation of the product, it is referred to as ‘fake’ or the so-called ‘synthetic’ paneer, which does not include milk products. It is in fact manufactured using vegetable oil, starch, nuts, soya, etc.

When prepared from curdled milk by the process of adding lemon juice, it looks almost like the fresh cottage cheese. The texture and taste is roughly similar to the one above as well.

Cost of Analogue Paneer
This is as a result of the fact that these ingredients; Analogue paneer is far cheaper than cottage cheese. It is largely available in the market at nearly half the price of paneer. Last year, Zomato was in hot soup after it was caught supplying analogue paneer to its customers in October. Cottage cheese is available for approximately Rs. 450 a kilogram while analogue paneer is sold for between Rs. 200 and Rs. 250 a kilogram as per some articles.

This special kind is often used by several restaurants, shopkeeper since it is cheaper than the other types.

How to Differentiate Between Analogue Paneer and Paneer?
Thus, the potential customers of analogue paneer are not restricted as per the rules of FSSAI because it does not fit under dairy product categories. As such, it is also short in the protein and other nutrient values. It is not easy to differentiate but let me point out few basic guidelines that if followed, can help one try to make the right decision:

Check the taste and texture. It can be also tested with sensory appeal and the most significant difference is in the texture, where milk based paneer and vegetable oil paneer is compared.
Always read the label. So, it is likely to find such key words as ‘imitation’ or ‘analogue’.
Real paneer has not deleterious effected with the heat it easily crumbles while synthetic one develops a char like surface.
Nonetheless, the nutritionless nature of the product has raised some questions on the health implications of the product arising from the use of analogue paneer. Vegetable oils, that makes synthetic cottage cheese contains trans fat, commonly known to harm the heart.