Cheeses of Darjeeling
A tea town in the Himalayan foothills where soft chhurpi goes into pickles and hard chhurpi is chewed for hours.
Made, aged and sold here
Best time: March to May and October to November, for clear mountain views.
Darjeeling is best known for tea, but its kitchens run on the cheeses of the eastern Himalaya. Soft chhurpi, a fresh cheese made from buttermilk, is mixed with chillies and tomatoes into a sharp relish. Hard chhurpi, dried until it is almost stone, is sold in small blocks on strings and chewed slowly. Both are part of daily life in the hill markets.
Chhurpi, soft and hard
Chhurpi starts from the buttermilk left after churning butter. Heated, it separates into curds that are pressed in cloth to make the soft cheese. For the hard kind, the pressed cheese is cut and dried over smoke or in the sun for weeks, until it is so firm it softens only in the mouth. The soft one goes into chhurpi achar and soups; the hard one is a travelling snack.
Markets and kitchens
The Chowk Bazaar and the lanes below the Mall are where chhurpi, local chillies, pickles and vegetables change hands. Tibetan, Nepali, Lepcha and Bhutia families all use cheese in their cooking, from thukpa to momos stuffed with cheese and greens. Tea estates surround the town, and the toy train of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway still runs up from the plains.
A trail idea for Darjeeling
- Chowk Bazaar Look for chhurpi, hill chillies and pickles in the market stalls.
- Chowrasta and the Mall The ridge-top square for a walk and a view of the Kangchenjunga range.
- A tea estate See how the slopes around the town are farmed.
- A momo shop Try a cheese and greens momo with a sharp chilli relish.
Written by the EveryCheese desk with AI assistance. Background: "Darjeeling" on Wikipedia. Opening hours, markets, caves and tours change; check locally before travelling. If something is wrong, tell us.
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