Austagram Paneer

Cattle and buffalo graze on haor grass around Austagram for most of the year, and their creamy milk has long been turned into paneer here. Local accounts trace the craft back about 300 years to the Mughal period, starting with a few families in Dattapara. Milk is curdled, strained through cloth and pressed into bamboo baskets, giving a firm white cheese with a mild salty tang. It takes about ten kilos of milk for a kilo, so it is not cheap, and most of it goes to Dhaka, Sylhet and Kishoreganj.

• #cheese
• #dairy
• #haor