''Ryazhenka'', or ''ryazhanka'' (

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

: ряженка; Belarusian: ражанка, ), is a traditional

fermented milk product Fermented milk products or fermented dairy products, also known as cultured dairy foods, cultured dairy products, or cultured milk products, are Dairy product, dairy foods that have been made by Fermentation, fermenting milk with lactic acid bac ...

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, and

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. [] It is made from baked milk by lactic acid fermentation.ГОСТ 31455-2012
Ряженка. Технические условия (International State Standard

GOST GOST () refers to a set of international technical standards maintained by the Euro-Asian Council for Standardization, Metrology and Certification (EASC), a regional standards organization operating under the auspices of the Commonwealth of I ...

31455-2012. ''Ryazhenka. Specifications''; in Russian)

Origin and etymology

Russian and Soviet sources call it " Little Russian ryazhenka", [] Reprinted in This milk product is called (, 'Little Russian ') in this book, with (, Little Russia) being at that time a common geographical term referring to the territory of modern-day Ukraine. "Ukrainian ryazhenka", or "Ukrainian

soured milk Soured milk denotes a range of food products produced by the acidification of milk. Acidification, which gives the milk a tart taste and unpleasant smell, is achieved either through bacterial fermentation or through the addition of an acid, such ...

" (, ) and attribute its origin to Ukrainian cuisine. [] The name is cognate with the Ukrainian as in (, "baked milk").

Similar dairy products

Similar traditional products made by fermenting baked milk have been known in Russia as . While some dictionaries define both names as synonyms, [] the industry standard

distinguishes between the two products, specifying somewhat different production processes.ГОСТ Р 53508-2009
Варенец. Технические условия (International State Standard

53508-2009. ''Varenets. Specifications''; in Russian) Similar products include and , in

Turkic countries Turkic may refer to: * anything related to the country of Turkey * Turkic languages, a language family of at least thirty-five documented languages ** Turkic alphabets (disambiguation) ** Turkish language, the most widely spoken Turkic language * ...

. The milk is heated to a high temperature before fermentation, which is the main factor distinguishing , , , and from yogurt-based drinks.

Production

''Ryazhenka'' is made by first pasteurizing milk before

simmering Simmering is a food preparation technique by which foods are cooked in hot liquids kept just below the boiling point of water (lower than ) and above poaching temperature (higher than ). To create a steady simmer, a liquid is brought to a boil, ...

it on low heat for eight hours, at minimum. Historically, this was done by placing a clay pot (''glechik'' or ''krinka'') with milk in a traditional Ukrainian oven for a day, until it was coated with a brown crust. Prolonged exposure to heat leads to the Maillard reaction between the milk's

amino acids Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although over 500 amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the Proteinogenic amino acid, 22 α-amino acids incorporated into p ...

and

sugars Sugar is the generic name for Sweetness, sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides ...

, resulting in the formation of melanoidin compounds that give it a creamy color and caramel flavor. A great deal of moisture evaporates, resulting in a change of consistency. In household production,

sour cream Sour cream (sometimes known as soured cream in British English) is a dairy product obtained by fermenting regular cream with certain kinds of lactic acid bacteria. The bacterial culture, which is introduced either deliberately or naturall ...

( smetana) is subsequently added to trigger fermentation. In modern industrial production, pure

thermophile A thermophile is a type of extremophile that thrives at relatively high temperatures, between . Many thermophiles are archaea, though some of them are bacteria and fungi. Thermophilic eubacteria are suggested to have been among the earliest bacte ...

bacterial cultures (''

Streptococcus thermophilus ''Streptococcus thermophilus'' formerly known as ''Streptococcus salivarius ''subsp.'' thermophilus'' is a gram-positive bacteria, gram-positive bacterium, and a lactic acid fermentation, fermentative facultative anaerobic organism, facultative ...

'' and '' Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus'') are used instead. The mixture is then kept in a warm place; the fermentation occurs at temperatures above ca. 40 °C / 100 °F and usually takes from three to six hours. The fat content of industrially produced ''ryazhenka'' is typically 3.5–4%, but in general, it is allowed to vary from <0.5% (if made from

skimmed milk Skimmed milk (British English), or skim milk (American English), is made when all the milkfat is removed from whole milk. It tends to contain around 0.1% to 0.3% fat. Background Historically, skimmed milk was used for fattening pigs, and was re ...

) up to 8.9%. The

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...

content is at least 3%. The

carbohydrate A carbohydrate () is a biomolecule composed of carbon (C), hydrogen (H), and oxygen (O) atoms. The typical hydrogen-to-oxygen atomic ratio is 2:1, analogous to that of water, and is represented by the empirical formula (where ''m'' and ''n'' ...

content is usually 4–5%. Like

scalded milk Scalded milk is dairy milk that has been heated to . At this temperature, bacteria are killed, enzymes in the milk are destroyed, and many of the proteins are denatured. Since most milk sold today is pasteurized, which accomplishes the first two ...

, ''ryazhenka'' is free of harmful bacteria and enzymes and can be stored safely at room temperature for up to forty hours.

References

{{Yogurts Fermented dairy products Yogurt-based drinks Sour foods Russian drinks Ukrainian drinks Belarusian cuisine Russian dairy products