Snack Products
Read about popular snack products in Russia – chechil, capelin roe, cheese Druzhba. These foods can be used for a quick snack with a tea on or be a party bite.
For a snack time these products often go well with a cup of tea.
As a Russian party food, chechil cheese is a good with beer, and you can make miniature buttered breads with capelin caviar or use spread cheese for canape – with bologna sausage and a bit of tomato or olive.
Chechil cheese
Chechil is traditional Armenian cheese of strong salty and smoky taste. It has a special form – dense stings plated into a braid.
Chechil cheese is very popular in Russia as a beer snack. One cut through the braid gives you a generous amount of tiny pieces of chechil which makes it an easy finger food.
Chechil has a low fat content and is considered as diet food (if you give the beers a miss of course 🙂 ).
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Capelin roe
Capelin is a small sea fish that live in the cold northern oceans. Capelin roe is considered as a high value product and prepared by steeping in brine and then packing in small glass jars. This roe is very popular in Japan and is often a part of various sushi stuffing.
In Russia capelin roe is often consumed as a spread over buttered French bread. As finger food, you may cut miniature cubes or other figurrettes from bread, butter and spread the caviar. It is an delicate taste and texture.
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Cheese Druzhna
Processed cheese Druzhba (plavlennyi syrok Druzhba) has been a popular and available snack product in Soviet times. When the choice in the shops was scarce and the earnings low, this affordable product won the hearts of the masses. People ate it as a snack or used as an ingredient for salads, finger foods and even soups.
In modern Russia Druzhba (literally meaning Friendship) is recognized as a cult Soviet product and spotting it on the supermarket shelves among fancy French and Swiss cheeses, one can feel nostalgic about old days.
The manufacturer of the cheese has put up a funky monument to the syrok in front of its headquarter in Moscow. Two characters of a world- famous fable (translated in Russian in 19 century by Krylov and now a studied at elementary schools) – a fox and a crow, hold a piece of Druzhba cheese with love and care.
The manufacturer produces many other similar products, for instance the cheese Coral with shrimp taste. One can argue that these extra flavoured spread cheeses are more delicate and intricate than their predecessor.
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