can I find curd and sour cream in Poland?

Hey

Does anyone have any idea where can I get sour cream and curd in Bialystok? what are they in Polish?

Well, don't know Bialystok, but you should be able to buy it in ANY "spozywczy" shop. Thats FMCG and nothing rare. Sour cream is usually packed like yoghurts, sweet cream like milk, in small carton boxes.

Curd - in Polish -Twaróg or Zsiadłe mleko
Sour Cream - in Polish - Śmietana

You should be able to find these two ingredients in every regular grocery store.
Smaller grocery stores might not carry curd.

There ain't nothing curdier around than serek wiejski, incidentally a theft of the Anglo world's cottage cheese.

They are two different products. Twaróg is "quark",
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark_(cheese)
often incorrectly translated as "cottage cheese", or "curd cheese". In Canada it is sometimes refered to as "farmer's cheese". On the linked page you will see two pictures of quark. Most people I know prepare the creamy version of "twaróg" themselves by adding some spring onions, salt and sour cream.

Images of "twaróg"

"Zsiadłe mleko", "skwaszone mleko", "kwaśne mleko" is translated as "soured milk", as opposed to "sour milk", which means spoiled milk.

Soured milk is obtained through natural fermentation of fresh, non-pasteurized milk.
images of "zsiadłe mleko"

Warning: The commercial fresh milk is usually pasteurized and as an effect it never sours naturally, but become peptonized - resulting in fouly smelling, bitter testing, even toxic stuff.

You can get rid of the off-taste by adding a generous dollop of dairy cultured sour cream to a gallon of pasteurised milk. Somehow the chemical additives neutralise each otehr. I have heard of people using dairy buttermilk for the same effect, but have never tried it.

All the sour cream or smietana that I have found here so far is not sour enough. In the UK, we have very much more obviously soured cream. Where can I find some here? And what is it called?

Also the other day I bought smietanka by mistake, no idea what that was but seemed to be watery, not thick like smietana.

Check the fat content on the label or packaging. Higher is better (with regard to taste). I also suggest a little salt, some garlic, onions and/or pepper, you should get a better flavor and taste. Experiment and enjoy.

I had 18% recently, it wasn't sour enough for the dish I was making. Thanks for the new tips.

I never buy less than 23% and watch for 30+ in the larger grocery stores.

maybe just add a little bit of a lemon/lime juice

I just bought some 30%, I'll give it a go, but don't remember ever having to worry about how sour the sour cream was in England :o)


I'll give it a try, thanks

Enjoy the holidays all (I'm not religious myself, it's just a break from the usual routine for me, but if you're celebrating Easter or Passover etc, I hope all's good)

Maybe try this one:


You might have bought the one people use for coffee:

Btw, "śmietana" is sour, "śmietanka" is sweet.
"Śmietanka" is usually used for desserts:

Those with the greatest fat content are usually called "śmienka kremówka" or "śmietanka kremowa" and "śmietanka tortowa":


Apparently people also add citric acid to make it more sour.


Or this one, if it's still available (Śmietana szczecinecka):

I saw that one today, nearly bought it :o)


It didn't taste good enough for coffee, it was sour-ish.


Not sure citric acid is good for people.

Thanks for the help though :o)

lol :) Then maybe try it next time ;)
Btw, which one did you buy?


lol ;D
I mean the one you use for food, I don't know it's name in English, sorry ;)
I mean this one:




Yw ;)

I bought another smietana instead of smietanka by mistake! Aaaaaaaaaarrrrghhhh!!!


Yes, that's it, it is citric acid but it's not too good for you I think. It has good things going for it too but among the negatives... (the hair one is most important to some of us!)

Side Effects

I wouldn't recommend it as an addition to a food, I tried it once in a salad and the flavour was awful, I had to bin the whole thing. I think, in the past people used citric acid as a substitute for lemons that were a rarity in our shops. I don't find any use for it nowadays,except maybe for removing scale from my kettle ;)

Well, śmietana is supposed to be the sour one and you wanted sour cream, right? ;)


Wow O_O
I don't use it anyway, so... ;) But it's good to know, thanks :)

Ditto, and other cleaning uses too.


Yeah, I'd say best avoid it. It's in a lot of canned tomatoes but there are plenty without if you look.


It doesn't seem at all sour, I just had it in a coffee!

lol
Well, I remember my uncle using Coca Cola for cleaning rust... and it worked like a charm o_O I'm not drinking that anymore, as you can imagine ;D


So śmietanka was too sour for you to put it in the coffee, but śmietana wasn't? Hmm...
OK, I'm lost then ;)

maybe you should try 'zsiadłe mleko' - 'soured milk'?
w w w.e-commerce.pl/Jovi-Zsiadle-mleko,37406.html

I think I've found it, you should look for 'śmietana ukwaszona'
w w w.mleczarnia.lowicz.pl/lowicz/index.php?strona=smietana-ukwaszona -15-500g

coca cola, brown sauce, vinegar and lemons .... are among the best for cleaning.

i didn't realize that cream went up to 36%

I don't think this one is too sour for coffee, it goes quite well :o)

The smietana which I do want to be sour just wasn't sour enough. In the UK they have one variety but it's the real deal, and properly sour.


Thanks :o)

Worcester sauce too.


That one's quite good for cooking with - it stands up to high temperatures..

I remember being shocked the first time I saw someone in Poland buy a half litre pot of double cream and drink it as if it were kefir. Imagine what that does to the arteries...