Whenever we make homemade paneer, we always get plenty of greenish or whitish whey.
For those who are not familiar about the whey – It is prepared by adding food acid (lemon juice, vinegar or sour yogurt) into boiled milk to separate milk solids and whey. That milk solid sets under heavy weight and known as paneer aka Indian cottage cheese while strained liquid is WHEY.
Whey drinks are made by combining it with fruit juices and flavored with cardamom powder or ginger powder. Sugar or honey or jaggery syrup is added if you like more sweet.
Whey is a rich source of water-soluble vitamins, minerals, trace elements and electrolytes. It is nutritious and low calorie mineral water.
- I have made 4 different flavored (mango, pineapple, rooh afza and strawberry) cooling drinks using paneer whey.
- You can make with many other fruit juice like grape juice, apple juice or crushed berries.
- Lychee juice would be really good. With lychee flavored drink, try adding salt and pepper. I have tried it and it was fantastic.
When I asked my mom and friends where to use this whey (that time I was not familiar or did not get idea of making beverages). Everyone says use the whey while making chapati dough in place of water… OK. I did that and only half a cup is used and I have too much leftover.
People gave me other idea of adding in soups in place of vegetable stock.. I did try but I missed the the flavor of stock in the soup and it completely changes the taste of soup. I did not like it at all.
But recently I read in the book about this cooling beverages made using whey. I was very interested to try that out. I made few different flavors, I and hubby really enjoyed.
Whey with fruit juices does not give smell and strong taste of whey. Because the fruit flavor will overpower.
If making this beverages for vrat or Hindu fasting days, Please do not make rooh afza one. It is not allowed during fasting. You can make with any choice of your fruit. If adding salt in the drinks, please use rock salt (sendha namak).
Apart from making beverages, Other use of Whey
- My mom says that whey can be poured into your garden (only plants who love acid like tomatoes, strawberries).
- You can feed your dogs this whey instead of milk.
- During the winter, you can consume the hot whey with honey. It is really good for health.
- As I said earlier, use in the dal, soup or curry instead of water or vegetable stock.
- You can use while kneading the dough for chapati or roti.
- One of the readers suggested to use while making chaas (buttermilk) in place of water.
- another reader says that he/she uses while making sourdough bread
whey drinks with fruit juice:
Beverages made using paneer whey | Nutritious Whey drinks
Ingredients (1 cup = 240 ml)
Mango drink:
- ½ cup Whey
- ½ cup Mango juice or 1/4 cup mango pulp with extra 1/4 cup of whey or water
- a pinch Dry ginger powder (sonth or saunth)
Rooh Afza drink:
- 1 cup Whey
- 2 tablespoons Roof afza syrup or rose syrup
- sugar as needed
Pineapple drink:
- ½ cup Whey
- ½ cup Pineapple juice
- a pinch Green cardamom seeds powder
Strawberry drink:
- 1 cup Whey
- 1 ½ tablespoons Strawberry Jam or 1/4 cup fresh strawberry pulp
Instructions
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Make sure that whey and juice both are chilled.
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Mix whey, fruit juice or syrup or jam or any other flavoring and stir well.
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Add sugar, if required.
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Add few ice cubes in a glass and pour the drink into the serving glass. It can be served without ice.
very good
thank you
We make whey drinks by adding roasted jeera (cumin) cashewbut black pepper rocksalt and some sour/sweet curd with green chillies and cilantro and mint making a paste together all ingredients and shaking or mixer grinder. Tastes awesome.
Your recipe is good too. Thanks for sharing
Today I made paneer at home,and was wondering what to do with leftover water.. and I got your beverage ideas. Thanks for sharing this information.
You’re welcome.
Can we make buttermilk using whey..instead of water use it
Yes, that is fantastic idea
Great idea. Just made my first paneer cheese just last week. Question: On the tutorial videos I watched about making paneer they all said to heat the milk to boiling before adding the lemon juice. A chef friend of mine said heating the milk was unnecessary. Your thoughts please.
Yes I recommend to heat the milk to boiling. You can see in this how to make paneer recipe.
Not sure how one can curdle the milk without boiling or heating. I have never tried without heating
Whey is rich in proteins and most of the time people just throw it away not knowing what to do with it. This beverage recipes made combining fruits and whey is a great idea and healthy too.
Thanks Sangeetha. Yes, whey is very nutritious.
Use of whey is new to me. very interesting blog.
Thank You.
felt very happy to come across this post. awesome idea 🙂
Thank you Meena
Hi,kanan
i have also made whey drink mango,lemon & pineapple flavor.
problem is there that we cant store this beverage at room temperature.
This beverage must be fridge.
will you give any suggestion about that how i keep it at room temperature.
please help me.
thank you.
No you cannot keep these at room temperature for longer time. Remove it from the fridge right before serving. To keep it at room temperature for about an hour, add lots of ice cubes in the jug.
Hi Kanan. I’ve been super busy the last three months…. I occasionally visited your blog.. There are so many more good recipes that I have tried but didn’t get a chance to leave a comment.. Alo tikki burger is the best!!! And using whey to make fruit juices is a great idea never thought of it… I usually use whey to make atta instead of water also in daals and sabjis in place of water .. We like the taste of daals and sabjis made with whey .. You should try it and see if you like it.. I made rooh afza in it yesterday it was really good perfect drink when it’s 98 degrees outside 🙂
Thank you Pradeep. oh 98 degrees is too hot. I have tried in the soup but personally don’t like it, so not sure about the dal. Will try it some time.
Thanks for sharing amazing post! This is the first time I have heard about adding paneer in cooling drinks. I like paneer very much. It looks really yummy. I will definitely give it a try.
We are not adding paneer, we are adding the whey left after making paneer. You misread it or its just typo
I love home made paneer. I use the whey sometimes when making sourdough bread bur never thought of it as a beverage. thank you for the idea.
you are welcome.