Glazirovanny Syrok

Glazirovanny syrok is a small dairy sweet, eaten chilled, that is popular in Russia, the Baltic states and elsewhere. Bite through the thin chocolate shell, and a sweet, faintly tangy white cheese appears. In Russian, the name means “a small glazed cheese sweet.”

The tang of dairy inside a shell

The tvorog used for the center is a fresh cheese made by curdling milk and separating out the liquid. Sugar, butter, cream and other ingredients are mixed into it, and the mixture is made smooth, shaped into small pieces and covered with a chocolate or cocoa-containing coating. The contrast between the outer shell and the moist, soft center is its defining feature. Some are flavored with vanilla or cocoa, and some contain fruit jam or cooked-down condensed milk.

In one production method, the cheese mixture is chilled, extruded into a bar, cut to a fixed size and then coated from above. The bottom is coated by rotating rollers, and the pieces are cooled to set the shell. In this way, the soft cheese mixture, which contains moisture, is shaped so that each piece can be enclosed individually. Grinding the cheese as it is mixed gives it a smoother texture.

One piece from the refrigerated shelf

Syrok was produced as a dairy product in the Soviet era and became an everyday sweet sold chilled. Today it is enjoyed not only in Russia but also in the Baltic states, under different names and packaging in each place. In Estonia it is called kohuke. This name was proposed in a 1972 competition for new words. Before that, it was known by a long name meaning “a small cheese sweet with a coated surface.” According to a recollection held by the Estonian Dairy Museum, in Tallinn in 1952 it was made using equipment and molds for ice cream. Dedicated production lines were later set up. In Riga, Latvia, too, coated cheese sweets were made in the late 1940s, and production shifted from handwork to machinery.

Syrniki, which use the same tvorog, add eggs and flour, and the mixture is flattened and cooked. With syrok, instead of being heated until browned, the cold mixture is enclosed in a shell. The tang of dairy appears in a different form.

Glossary