Ryazenka--Russian baked yogurt

Yogurt is not and should not be a substitute for ice cream. This, I have been thinking, is the problem with yogurt these days. It's been getting sweeter and gloppier and doesn't make for good yogurt or for good 'creamy dessert' ersatz ice cream.

There's a Russian market near me (in NJ) where I discovered ryazenka. It's in a nasty looking brown bottle, but it is sooo good. Creamy beyond belief, and the cultures taste so funky and alive that it really is a party in your mouth. I just can't figure out what it is. A google for ryzenka turns up 4 sites, and none of them say what is 'baked' about this yogurt. It's similar to kefir but not exactly the same. Does anyone know anything about it?

AOK:

I can offer a little but no complete or detailed information. It's a mixture of a kind of yoghurt and cream that is cooked at high heat (why not in an oven?). But if it's cooked at very high heat, how would the cultures survive? There must be a secondary fermentation. I will consult with other members of the Gesellschaft für Europäische Freßwissenschaft and see if a more complete description can be got.



I agree very much with your general comments on yoghurt.

Antonius

AOK:

Please find here more description of substance in question:

ryazhenka

Is cooked, then fermented.



Anton Antonovich

Hi,

Is this kefir-yogurt product a brownish caramel color?

It's slightly brown, kind of a light khaki. It does not look like it will be so tasty.

I should have known, Antonius, that 'ryazenka' (this is how it's spelled on the bottle) does not conform to Russian phonology. 'Ryazhenka'! Of course! I was thrilled and horrified (in a good way) to learn from the link you provided that it is 'strep milk'. Next time I'm at that store I will check for 'varenets' so I can try 'strep milk with an extra side of bacteria'. To the Yoplait masses I say, "Let's put the culture back in cultured milk!"

Wow, the Russians must really like ferment.

One of the more vile products I've ever tasted is kvass (spelled in cyrillic, if I remember correctly, KBAC).

It's sort of a non-alchoholic, sweet, yeasty barley pop.

Imagine strong beer-flavored soda pop, and you're most of the way there. But at least the flavor of beer in your mouth goes away pretty quickly, this stuff sticks with you for a while.

Joel,

I was just posting on Kvass memories just last week.

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I was very sure the Russian name for the yogurt was a transliteration with spelling likely to differ. I have had this exact yogurt in Moscow years ago. It came in a squat milk bottle about 3 inches tall. It had a cooked milk taste, which I rather liked. I never knew it had a name beyond my calling it the brown yogurt. I may search out here in Chicago, though so many Russian foodstuffs originate in Brooklyn, NY - I guess there is a chance of finding it here.

I know I've seen some of the ElWest product (producer of ryazhenka that Antonius pointed out) at Marketplace on Oakton. Don't remember if they specifically had ryazhenka, though.

While I was out shopping this morning I looked for the yogurt.Unfortunately no luck at these places.Village Market and Hungarian Kosher in Skokie and Produce World in Morton Grove.

Ryazenka is available at the Eurostyle deli in Skokie, 4861 Oakton. It's right around the corner from Marketplace on Oakton. I believe they also carry ryazenka. Eurostyle deli also had some nice looking smoked fish, including a whole, smoked, baby sturgeon with scales on! looked like a teensy dinosaur. Pretty cheap, too, only $3.99 a pound.