Pomazánkové máslo (literally: "spread butter") is a traditional Czech and Slovak

dairy A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on ...

product. It is a spread made from sour cream, milk powder and buttermilk powder. It also contains

starch Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human diets ...

, salt and usually

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

or similar flavoring. The Czech food regulator (Státní potravinářská inspekce) requires the ''pomazánkové máslo'' must consist of at least 31% milk fat and 42%

milk solid Powdered milk, also called milk powder, dried milk, or dry milk, is a manufactured dairy product made by evaporating milk to dryness. One purpose of drying milk is to preserve it; milk powder has a far longer shelf life than liquid milk and do ...

s. Milk fat cannot be replaced by vegetable fat. Popular flavors include herbs (

parsley Parsley, or garden parsley (''Petroselinum crispum'') is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae that is native to the central and eastern Mediterranean region (Sardinia, Lebanon, Israel, Cyprus, Turkey, southern Italy, Greece, Por ...

, basil,

oregano Oregano (, ; ''Origanum vulgare'') is a species of flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae. It was native to the Mediterranean region, but widely naturalised elsewhere in the temperate Northern Hemisphere. Oregano is a woody perennial pla ...

, marjoram, and chives),

garlic Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plant in the genus ''Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, Allium fistulosum, Welsh onion and Allium chinense, Chinese onion. It is native to South A ...

, ham,

bell pepper The bell pepper (also known as paprika, sweet pepper, pepper, or capsicum ) is the fruit of plants in the Grossum Group of the species ''Capsicum annuum''. Cultivars of the plant produce fruits in different colors, including red, yellow, orange ...

and horseradish. The ''pomazánkové máslo'' was first made in a dairy located in

Liberec Liberec (; german: Reichenberg ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 103,000 inhabitants and it is the fifth-largest city in the country. It lies on the Lusatian Neisse, in a basin surrounded by mountains. The city centre is well preser ...

in 1977. Annual Czech production is over 8,000 tons. Major producers are Madeta and Choceňská mlékárna. European Union regulation has forbidden the ''pomazánkové máslo'' label because it contains the word "máslo" (butter). According to European regulations, only products containing more than 39% of milkfat can be called butter. The Slovak Republic accepted this decision immediately, whereas the Czech Republic did so after several court hearings. In Slovakia, the new names for the product became "smotanová nátierka" (cream spread) and "roztierateľný tuk" (spreadable fat), while a Czech name wasn't initially established due to the hearings - however dairies announced that they would call their product "máslová pomazánka" (buttery spread) or "máslový krém" (buttery cream). Nevertheless, at the beginning of 2013, the Ministry of Agriculture announced that the product would be named to just "tradiční pomazánkové" (literally: "traditional spreadable"), simply dropping the word "máslo" from the end of the product's name, and by the end of 2014, the new name had become widely adopted.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pomazankove maslo Czech cuisine Fermented dairy products