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| Alternative names | Stewler, simmeler |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | Russia |
| Main ingredients | Milk |
Varenets (Russian: варенец, lit. 'the stewed one'), sometimes anglicised as stewler or simmeler, is a fermented milk product that is popular in Russia. Similar to ryazhenka, it is made by adding sour cream (smetana) to baked milk.
Production
Varenets is a fermented dairy drink with a caramel taste and creamy color. In the old days milk was baked in a Russian oven and fermented with sour cream.
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.
