Varenets

Varenets (Russian: варенец, lit. 'the stewed one'), sometimes anglicised as stewler or simmeler, is a fermented milk product that is popular in Russia.^[1][2] Similar to ryazhenka, it is made by adding sour cream (smetana) to baked milk.^[2]

Varenets

Alternative names	Stewler, simmeler
Place of origin	Russia
Main ingredients	Milk
Media: Varenets

Production

Varenets is a fermented dairy drink with a caramel taste and creamy color. Varenets was traditionally produced by baking milk in a Russian oven and fermenting it with sour cream.^[3]

Commercially available cultured varenets is milk that has been pasteurized and homogenized (with 0.5% to 8.9% fat), and then inoculated with a culture of Streptococcus thermophilus to simulate the naturally occurring bacteria in the old-fashioned product.^[4][5]

Similar dairy products

Ryazhenka is the Russian word for a very similar fermented dairy product. While some dictionaries treat these two words as synonyms,^[6] the industry standard GOST distinguishes between the two products, specifying somewhat different production processes.^[4]

Also similar are qatiq and kaymak, commonly found in Turkic countries.^[7] The milk should be heated to a high temperature before fermentation. This is the main similarity of ryazhenka, varenets, qatiq, and kaymak that distinct it from other yogurt-based products, although kaymak and qatiq are thicker in consistency.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• List of dairy products
• List of Russian dishes
• List of yogurt-based dishes and beverages