Food /
Understanding Polish Cream, Syrup and Bacon [11]
Cream: I'm always looking for the UK tasting Single Cream for in pasta and Double Cream for whipping into deserts.
śmietana which is translated as cream in English is ALWAY sour (12 per cent or 18 per cent you see on the package is fat content) - if you want to buy Single Cream you need to look for
śmietanka do kawy(the fat content is about 10 per cent) - the equivalent of double cream or the thing that Polish housewives use for deserts is
śmietanka 30-36% (usually in smaller cups than śmietana)
bacon - if you want raw bacon you need to look for
boczek surowy - cooked bacon (boczek gotowany) is not very popular and not widely available - instead Polish shops sell
boczek wędzony (smoked bacon) - you can fry it, simmer in soups or eat straight from the package - as for the size of Polish bacons: yes it seems they are thinner than British or American equivalents - it is probably caused by different breeds of pigs that are raised in Poland and also on different methods of dissecting them after the slaughter
I don't use commercial syrups that often - they are inferior in quality to what we (my family) can make from the fruits from our own garden - however our own homemade fruits are not any sweeter than those available in shops - you just need to use more of them to reach the same sweetness you get from British style syrups (syrup is syrop in Polish as you probably have already noticed)
