The milky way

Hello and welcome to the ABC of Czech in which this season we explore Czech vocabulary related to Czech food and cuisine. Today we'll be looking at dairy products - mléčné výrobky.

Dairy products are an important part of Czech cuisine. Milk and dairy products used to be strongly advertised and also subsidised by the communist regime. There were even institutions called "dairy bars" - mléčný bar, where you could buy and consume fresh dairy products, like milk shakes - mléčný koktejl, and ice-cream - zmrzlina, or you could buy a sandwich and wash it down with a glass of milk - mléko.

There was a ubiquitous slogan which said: Zdraví, sílu najdeš v sýru. "You'll find health and strength in cheese." So you will have guessed that cheese is sýr. Processed or soft cheese is tavený sýr. Hard cheese is tvrdý sýr.

A typical Czech or Central European dairy product is tvaroh. It does not have a direct equivalent in Western cuisines, sometimes it is translated as quark or cottage cheese, sometimes just fresh cheese. It is what you get when milk gets sour and gets clotted. It can be spread on a slice of bread, with paprika or other seasoning. Also it is used to soften certain types of dough or with sugar, egg and raisins it can be used to garnish koláče - typical Czech round cakes.

The diminutive of the word tvaroh is tvarůžek. It means the same as the diminutive of the word sýr (or cheese) which is syreček. The dictionary translates it as a "small round curd cheese sharp tasting and strong smelling". The most famous brand is olomoucké syrečky or olomoucké tvarůžky. Produced near the town of Olomouc, they are really very strong smelling and I recommend you try them when you come over.

Cream - smetana is also important in Czech cuisine, especially to make various sauces. Meals are often prepared na smetaně or "on cream", like for example králík na smetaně or rabbit on cream.

And that's all for today, thanks for listening and till next time dobrou chuť or bon appetit!