Smetana (dairy product)

For the composer, see Bedřich Smetana.

A bowl of borscht soup with smetana.

Smetana is a Russian loanword in English for a dairy product that is produced by souring heavy cream. Other terms for this food are: Smotana, Shmetana, Schmetten, Schmand, Smântâna, Skabs krejums, Kisla smetana, kysaná smetana, Mietana, Ggrietin, Hapukoor, Tejföl, Pavlaka and Vrhnje. Smetana is from Central and Eastern Europe, a soured cream product like crème fraîche (28%), but much heavier and thicker with usually 36% to 42 % milkfat or even higher, more sour in taste than crème fraîche. It will not curdle when cooked or added to hot dishes. Its cooking properties are different from crème fraîche and the lighter sour creams sold in the U.S., which contain 12 to 16 percent butterfat.

Countries

Blini with Smetana and red caviar

The Smetana is called Smetana in Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian (written сметана in the Cyrillic alphabet) and in Finnish , Schmetten or Schmand in German, Kisla smetana in Slovenian, śmietana in Polish, Shmetana in Yiddish kvasena smetana in Bulgarian, Smotana in Slovak and zakysaná smetana in Czech.

In Hungarian it is called Tejföl or Tejfel and in Romanian Smântână, in Estonian Hapukoor in Lithuanian Grietinė, in Latvian Skābs krējums, in Serbian and Macedonian Pavlaka or Mileram, in Bosnian Pavlaka in Albanian Shtalpë and in Croatian kiselo vrhnje. The word Smetana in some languages is a modern loan word from Russian.

The dairy product

Plates of pelmeni with smetana and onion

Home-made oladji with sour cream, roe and chopped onion, and Russian pickled cucumber with honey.

Smetana is widely used in many Eastern European cuisines, in appetizers, main courses, soups and desserts, for example, blended into local soups, vegetable and meat dishes, Cole Slaw, served with dumplings, Pierogi or as a filling in savoury pancakes. Smetana can be blended to a Liptauer-like cheese spread with local cottage cheeses, onions, paprika and other spices, eaten with bread. It is often used in cooking, as it is high enough in fat not to curdle at higher temperatures. It is used in the preparation of meat or vegetable stews and casseroles, or other dishes that require a long cooking time in the oven. Smetana doesn't melt in the oven and it doesn't soak the whole dish like crème fraîche. Hungarian cooks use it as an ingredient in sauces and in recipes such as ham-filled crepes. The current trend to reduce fat content of the milk products has caused the taste and consistency of many milk products to deteriorate. To imitate Hungarian style cooking and the use of Smetana (called Tejföl in Hungarian), Hungarian cookbooks recommend using Western sour cream mixed with heavy whipping cream (38–40% milkfat). Homogenization breaks the fat into smaller sizes. Smetana is not homogenized.

Smetana is also widely used in Finnish cooking, smetana being more commonly used in Karelia and Ingria. In Ukrainian and Russian cuisine, sour cream is often added to borscht and other soups, and is used as a condiment for dumplings like vareniki and pelmeni.

Almost all Croatian dairies produce smetana, but connoisseurs hold that only that purchased from a milkmaid selling her own products, often at a farmers' market, is the real item. Eurosceptics feel that local products would disappear under the European standardization (BBC News article).

When comparing brands or suppliers of smetana, the Polish and Russian practice is to compare the fat content of the varieties. Fat content can range from 10% (runny) to 70% (thick). The most common supermarket smetanas are 12%, 18%, 30% and 36%. Addition of thickeners such as gelatine is not forbidden by relevant regulations, but is regarded as cheating and the product is considered substandard and unsuitable for culinary use, since some recipes are easily spoiled by the presence of a thickener.

See also

• Category:Russian loanwords
• Kajmak
• Strained yoghurt‎
• Sour cream