Chhurpi is of three types: Soft Chhurpi , Hard Chhurpi and Dudh Chhurpi (7)
Soft Chhurpi is one of the most common traditional fermented food products in the house hold of the Sikkimese community. To the local this delicacy item is highly palatable and also replaceable to even the non-vegetarian food. Hard Chhurpi is sweet in taste and chewy. It is the most famous ethnic food highly relished by the tribal community. This type of Chhurpi are very hard and having low moisture content, can be stored for a number of years, the more old hardness also increasing its value. Chhurpi costs about Rs 600/- per kg in the surrounding area and even more if marketed (Fig 3). Dudh Chhurpi is much expensive than other two Chhurpi.
1.6. Philu …show more content…
The soft creamy mass attached to the branches of lawa, a local plant is then scraped off and stored as local cheese which has great value in the market. This soft creamy mass is called philu (7).
Yak meat products
Meat forms a major part if the diet of the local people in the North and Eastern part of Sikkim. The local people prepare and consume a variety of traditionally processed smoked, sun-dried, air-dried, or fermented meat products, including sausages since olden days. Male yak is slaughtered instead of female yak. Mostly yak killed in accidents is consumed by the herdsman. The herdsmen consume yak meat on a daily basis and also during festivals like Losar in month of February. The following are the yak meat products: Satchu (Dry meat), Kargyong or Gyuma (Sausages) and Chilu (Yak Fat) (11)
Yak Satchu costs Rs 500 to 600 per kg. According to one of the herdsman, in olden days fat separated from fresh meat was collected in sheep stomach, pressed with stones and hung in their houses but nowadays they use wooden jars to store fat until further use. Food cooked in its fat is considered as being tastier than in normal oil. Fat stored in these manner are used by the local community for a year or …show more content…
The yak keeping varies from both primitive and advanced ways of semi- migration in winter seasons. Grazing pattern followed by the herders depend on their indigenous knowledge of pasture. The traditional health management practices rely on the knowledge of indigenous medicinal herbs passed from generation to generation. The indigenous knowledge all together plays a pivotal role in maintaining yak sustainability and also their livelihood sustainability. Thus the documentation of traditional knowledge would provide the preservation of culture and indigenous practices used by the Lachenpas, Lachungpas, Dokpas and Bhutia communities of North and East Sikkim and used as a key for poverty mitigation and food security. The livelihood sustainability of the herdsman of the alpine Sikkim is mainly around the Yak, a “surefooted” multipurpose animal. Yak is their major income generating source for poor herdsman from its milk, meat, hair, skin to tail serving them to help their survival in this world away from transformation making them to value traditional values, religion, community and ethnic