Vologda butter: know-how of a Russian cheese maker

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Vologda oil can be called one of the assets of our state. He has been well known not only in Russia, but also abroad for more than a hundred years. The production of butter, which conquered many people around the world with its refined taste, began in 1870, when cheese maker Nikolai Vereshchagin visited an exhibition of the dairy industry in Paris. There he encountered a dairy product with a nut-like flavor. The reason for this was the herbs growing in Normandy. Vereshchagin was captivated by the idea of creating a similar Vologda oil, because the herbal meadows of this region were no worse than French pastures, giving a nutty flavor to the final product.

True, the first attempt was unsuccessful. The reason for this was the use of raw rather than boiled water. Having corrected this and introduced cream pasteurization into the technology, Vereshchagin obtained what today is called "Vologda butter". Its main highlight is the signature taste and aroma of roasted nuts.

Became famous after the birth of technology for the production of butter from "warmed cream", the buttermaker continued to improve the processprocessing until his death. Because of his modesty, he called the resulting product Parisian. The second name that Vologda oil had in its history is St. Petersburg. It received its modern name already under Soviet rule.

Today, dairy plants in Russia, producing this butter, must ensure the implementation of GOST, developed back in the days of the USSR. In particular, the main requirement is the quality of cream. It is allowed to use only raw materials obtained by the separation of milk of the highest grade. Fat content of cream - 27-24%. Another important condition is the time factor, everything should happen within one day. In addition, the cream should not have any foreign odors, the acidity should not exceed 15T.

Before running the entire batch of raw materials for the production of butter, a sample is made by pasteurization. Depending on the results, it is determined which product will be produced. With a weak taste and smell, sweet cream butter will be produced, if these indicators are bright - Vologda. Pasteurization temperature - 97-98 degrees. It ensures the preservation of aromatic substances that give the final product its signature taste and aroma. Mandatory operations for the manufacture of butter are sharp cooling, maturation, churning and washing the finished product with boiled water.

It is unacceptable to increase the pasteurization temperature in excess of the value determined by the technology, double (repeated) pasteurization, keeping cream in a hot state for more thantwenty minutes. All this leads to a decrease in the aromatic properties of the oil. According to the standard, the finished product should have a fat content of 82.5%, the amount of moisture in it should not exceed 16%. It is recommended to make it in the summer. The shelf life of the product is not more than a month, at the end of which the Vologda oil passes into a different status and becomes an ordinary high-grade oil.