Do Indian families use the whey after making paneer?

So, I only recently this year found out from Indian colleagues why oftentimes I will see Indian families at the grocery store w/ 4+ gallons of whole milk in their shopping carts, or even presumably single males - I initially thought, "They can't possible drink 4 gallons of milk a week?!?!?"

So, the answer lies in homemade paneer and yogurt...

Interestingly enough, paneer is SO easy to make as it is an un-aged cheese. All you need is milk and acid (lemons, limes or vinegar) - Wow!

So, what to do with the leftover whey? It seems like such a waste to just toss it - is there a use for it? I'm not certain I can make protein powder out of the whey, but what do typical families do with it? Drink it? (Blech?!?!)

The whey is sometimes used in certain dishes, like this Mattar Paneer one I tried a while back, as but one example. Some folks use it to make their roti dough as well. I have not tried making a drink out of it, but have heard that you can simply mix it with some OJ and sugar and it's not bad ( ).

The whey is very nutritious and, while there is no formally acknowledged usage, can be used as a replacement for water in many Indian dishes, particularly those that contain yogurt.

Jyoti

You can use the acidulated whey instead of lemon juice for making chenna/paneer -- it results in a product with a much nicer texture.

Does anyone know if it's possible to make paneer out of skim milk.... and is the resulting product "low-fat" so to speak? I enjoy fresh mozzarella and the side benefit that it is relatively lower in fat than other types of cheese... would paneer made of skim milk be another good lower-fat food item? Anybody attempt this or know?

Hey, iv made paneer from skim milk, its decent, whole milk is way better though,
and yup if you use low fat mil with low fat yogurt(can use yoghurt instead of lime or vcinegar) you get lower fat paneer