Deliciously Healthy Taste of India-Amul

Deliciously Healthy Taste of India-Amul

Is it even possible to watch Indian TV and not know the jingle ‘Amul doodh peeta hai India’ (India drinks Amul milk)?

Last week I shared about our visit to the National Dairy Development Board projects in Anand, Gujrat. The second and last day we visited the Amul milk powder, butter, and chocolate factories.

A quick peek into Amul history!

Back to the first half of last century, 1946 to be precise! Distressed by the monopolistic exploitation by traders and agents of Polson, milk farmers approached Tribhuvandas Kishibhai Patel, a Gandhian who under the guidance of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, advised them to form a cooperative to sell milk. This led to the creation of Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers' Union, with only two village dairy cooperative societies and 247 litres of milk.

Since most milk producers were marginal farmers supplying just a litre or two a day, village-level cooperatives were formed to collect milk and send it to the district union. In June 1948, KDCMPUL began pasteurizing milk for the Bombay Milk Scheme.

Like any other march forward, there were hiccups and baby steps of progress. Slowly, several such cooperative were formed within Gujrat. To avoid competition among the societies, cut down costs and expand the market, the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd., was created in 1973. The Anand Milk Union Limited which in 1955, had taken the acronym Amul, also meaning ‘invaluable’ in Sanskrit, was transferred to the Gujarat Cooperative Milk marketing federation Ltd.

Prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri advised forming of NDDB, to help replicate the model in other states. Now we have brand names Verka (Punjab), Vita (Haryana), Parag (UP), Delhi (Mother Dairy), Sudha (Bihar), Nandini (Karnataka), Aavin (Tamilnadu) and in several more states. The NDDB financial model is “for every rupee you spend, 75% is given back to the farmer.”

The noteworthy fact is that the success of Amul (a cooperative society founded in 1946) led to the creation of NDDB (a statutory body founded in 1965).

Amul now has 3.64 million milk producer members and the daily milk procurement is 35 million litres per day (Amul.com).

The Amul story inspired legendary director Shyam Benegal to make Manthan (1976), starring Smita Patil, Naseeruddin Shah and Girish Karnad. Unbelievable but true that over five lakh rural farmers gave Rs two each to help finance the film and of course, went in trucks to watch their story when it was released. It won the national film award in 1977.

What began as a practical solution which was turning surplus milk into milk powder, has now grown into a full-blown dairy empire.  

Today, Amul churns out everything from milk, curd, and butter to flavoured milk, sour cream, paneer, cheese, spreads, ice cream, cookies, and chocolates… and these are just the ones I knew. There are many more, often in flavours I didn’t know existed. Amul is now muscling into the fitness game with a flavoured protein drink made from milk solids.

I stood ogling at the display for a good few minutes, trying to imprint them in my memory. But now, when I try to recall them for you, my memory is melting faster than Amul ice cream in Indian summer. My phone camera failed to do justice to the array.

Now, about the factory visit. Air-conditioned, fully automated, and gleaming with hi-tech, computer-controlled machinery, these plants operate with minimal human touch to uphold the highest standards of hygiene. Our first stop: the Amul milk powder plant. A faint smell of milk was the only hint that dairy was at work here. The vast, dry, spotless room with steel tanks connected by a network of pipes and machines humming with quiet efficiency, felt oddly calming, like an industrial spa. What went on inside the tanks remained a mystery, but the precision and cleanliness spoke volumes.

Lovely lovely lovely butter,
fresh cream Amul Butter
I promise to be good
if I can have it everyday

Amul butter girl

One does not need a degree, or even the ability to read, to recognize the blue-haired moppet in the red polka-dot dress, the Amul butter girl.

The little imp who turned 50 in 2016, was born on the sketch-pad of Eustace Fernandes, offering bedtime prayers- Give us this day our daily bread: with Amul butter. Since then, almost every week, she pops up with a cheeky wordplay on everything from politics to pop culture, proof that Amul has a finger firmly on the pulse of the nation.

Visitors are not allowed inside the long rooms where butter is made, but you can watch the process through expansive wall-to-wall glass windows. In most Indian homes, we make butter by churning plain or soured malai, (creamy top layer of boiled milk) and separating the fat, leaving ‘buttermilk’. But here, it felt like watching magic. You could not see any cream or churning inside the machines, just the mesmerising sight of cold, yellow, velvety butter emerging from giant steel pipes. Hypnotic!

Amul Chocolate Factory

Many years ago, Mr. Vishnoi, Mani’s witty senior in the railways (and a fantastic singer) mentioned taking his kids to the Amul chocolate factory. That offhand remark planted a seed in my mind. And finally, that long-held dream came true as we drove down NH 64, from Ahmedabad toward Vadodara, to the Mogar plant where this universally loved treat is made (Who ever says no to chocolate?).

The moment we entered, we were wrapped in the heavenly aroma of chocolate - rich, warm, and impossible to resist. Unlike most of the other Amul plants, where everything happens hidden inside sleek machinery and sealed tanks, this was the one place where you could actually see some of the magic in action.

The journey of a chocolate bar begins with cocoa beans imported from across South America and Africa. These are roasted, deshelled, and their inner nibs winnowed and ground into a thick paste. This paste is then blended with cocoa butter, sugar, flavouring, and refined, grinding and refining being the keywords of the process. After that comes conching: a long, heated mixing stage that gives chocolate its silky-smooth feel, and finally what justifies all those hours we have spent watching MasterChef talk i.e., tempering.

Next, the molten mix is blended with flavours, nuts, fruits and what not, and moulded into its various delicious avatars—bars, chips, wafers, and more. But before the wrapping in airtight foil and snug paper jackets, they must strut down a conveyor belt and pass through a metal detector, just in case a metal bit decided to make a rare occurrence- airport security for chocolate.

And then comes the stuff of dreams: tall, moveable racks stacked with chocolate-filled boxes, neatly stored in a several-metre-high, perfectly chilled room. For days afterward, that image replayed in my mind like the river in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Pardon me for going on about Amul, but it’s officially time for my Amul break now, strictly for health reasons, of course. You know- antioxidants, heart health, emotional stability, general happiness!

Note: Guided tours to Amul plants can be booked online in advance. The staff are patient and courteous, making the experience even more enjoyable.

                                                                                                     - Anupama S Mani