Ryazhenka or ryazhanka (

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

: ряженка; uk, ряжанка) 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 Fermentation, fermented with lactic acid bacteria such as '' ...

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

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

GOST GOST (russian: ГОСТ) refers to a set of International standard, international Technical standard, technical Standardization, standards maintained by the ''Euro-Asian Council for Standardization, Metrology and Certification (EASC)'', a region ...

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, is achieved either through bacterial fermentation or through the addition of an acid, such as lemon juice or vineg ...

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

Turkic countries The following is a list of dynasties, states or empires which are Turkic-speaking, of Turkic origins, or both. There are currently six recognised Turkic sovereign states. Additionally, there are six federal subjects of Russia in which a Turkic ...

. Before fermentation, milk should be heated to a high temperature. This is the main difference of , , , and from other yogurt-based drinks.

Production

Ryazhenka is made by first

pasteurizing Pasteurization or pasteurisation is a process of food preservation in which packaged and non-packaged foods (such as milk and fruit juices) are treated with mild heat, usually to less than , to eliminate pathogens and extend shelf life. Th ...

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 the traditional Ukrainian

oven upA double oven A ceramic oven An oven is a tool which is used to expose materials to a hot environment. Ovens contain a hollow chamber and provide a means of heating the chamber in a controlled way. In use since antiquity, they have been us ...

for a day until it is coated with a brown crust. Prolonged exposure to heat causes the

Maillard reaction The Maillard reaction ( ; ) is a chemical reaction between amino acids and reducing sugars that gives browned food its distinctive flavor. Seared steaks, fried dumplings, cookies and other kinds of biscuits, breads, toasted marshmallows, and man ...

between the milk's

amino acids Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although hundreds of amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the alpha-amino acids, which comprise proteins. Only 22 alpha am ...

and

sugars Sugar is the generic name for 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 or double s ...

, resulting in the formation of

melanoidin Melanoidins are brown, high molecular weight heterogeneous polymers that are formed when sugars and amino acids combine (through the Maillard Reaction) at high temperatures and low water activity. They were discovered by Schmiedeberg in 1897. Melan ...

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 (in North American English, Australian English and New Zealand English) or soured cream (British English) is a dairy product obtained by fermenting regular cream with certain kinds of lactic acid bacteria. The bacterial culture, wh ...

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

thermophile A thermophile is an organism—a type of extremophile—that thrives at relatively high temperatures, between . Many thermophiles are archaea, though they can be bacteria or fungi. Thermophilic eubacteria are suggested to have been among the earl ...

bacterial cultures (''

Streptococcus thermophilus ''Streptococcus thermophilus'' also known as ''Streptococcus salivarius ''subsp.'' thermophilus'' is a gram-positive bacterium, and a fermentative facultative anaerobe, of the '' viridans'' group. It tests negative for cytochrome, oxidase, an ...

'' and ''

Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus ''Lactobacillus delbrueckii'' subsp. ''bulgaricus'' (until 2014 known as ''Lactobacillus bulgaricus'') is one of over 200 published species in the ''Lactobacillus'' genome complex (LGC) and is the main bacterium used for the production of yogurt. ...

'') 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% fat. Background Historically, skimmed milk was used for fattening pigs, and was recommende ...

) up to 8.9%. The

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...

content is at least 3%. The

carbohydrate In organic chemistry, a carbohydrate () is a biomolecule consisting of carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) atoms, usually with a hydrogen–oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 (as in water) and thus with the empirical formula (where ''m'' may or ma ...

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 g ...

, 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 Ukrainian inventions Russian dairy products

Origin and etymology

Production

See also

References