Friendship cheese is a tasty and interesting product. This is one of the processed cheeses, which are now presented in a large assortment on the shelves of most retail outlets. However, it was Druzhba cheese that was one of the first such goodies for the residents of Russia.
A bit of history
The product itself, which is called processed cheese, was invented in Switzerland. This discovery dates back to 1911. Subsequently, the recipe was modified and finalized. Moreover, this product hit the shelves much later.
Processed cheese "Friendship" was one of the first in the USSR. This can explain its popularity. The name of this product itself is known to many, it even involves jokes or various stories.
The Karat factory began to produce Druzhba cheese. Processed cheeses are the hobby of this enterprise. They are produced from 1960 to the present. The company also produces brine cheeses and dairy products.
Interesting fact
Not everyone knows that processed cheese "Friendship" even won its own monument. In 2004, Karat announced a competition for the best idea for a monument glorifying a legendary product.
As a result, in 2005 a new monument appeared in Moscow. On it, a crow and a fox from Krylov’s fable are sitting embracing. In their paws is a package with melted cheese. He, by the way, weighs about 200 kilograms and is made of bronze.
The composition of the product, nutritional value
Processed cheese itself is a solid, similar product, heated to a certain temperature. However, now manufacturers use different additives to diversify the taste or make a more competitive product. The greatest danger is vegetable fats, which are actively added by some manufacturers of processed cheese. Thus, they lower the cost of the product, making it far from the original. On such cheese should be written "cheese product". The most delicious, of course, is real processed cheese, with a minimum amount of additives.
If we take the product of the Karat company as a sample, the composition of Druzhba processed cheese should include cheese, butter, milk powder, cottage cheese, cream, water, table salt, as well as a number of additives. The latter include potassium sorbate and emulsifying salts. Cheese fat content is 24%. One hundred grams of the product contains 287 calories. Of these, fats predominate - 24.2 grams, then proteins - 15 g, and in the last place carbohydrates, there are only 2.5 grams of them.
Appearance and taste of the product
Cheese in its consistency is quite dense, albeit soft in structure. It is easy to spread on a sandwich or crackers. Its color is light, slightly yellowish. There is no pronounced cheese yellowness.
The flavor of cheese is weak. It’s hard to notice. The taste is dominated by milky notes, slightly sweet. Cheese does not have a pronounced taste, the aftertaste remains light, invisible. Thanks to this, the product can be combined with others. Reviews about Druzhba cheese say that this product is delicious with fresh vegetables, as well as seafood, in particular, squid.
Cream Cheese Recipes. Soups
Soup is a dish in which broth is extremely important, even when it comes to mashed soups in which no liquid is visible at all. Therefore, the taste of this broth itself can be given in various ways. For example, processed cheese is a good complement to a number of traditional soups.
If you add a small piece of processed cheese to pea rich soup and mix it thoroughly, you can get a rich aroma and creamy note. It will also add density to the first dish. The same can be said about vegetable soups, in which cream cheese makes a bright aftertaste.
An example of such a dish is a cheese soup with vegetables. To prepare it, you will need the following products:
- processed cheese - 2 pcs.;
- potatoes - 2 medium tubers;
- carrots - 1 medium root vegetable;
- green peas - 150-200 g;
- canned corn - 100 gr
- leeks - 200-300 g;
- salt, spices to taste.
First of all, cheese should be prepared. It is better to put them in the refrigerator, so that in the future it can be easier to grate. Also, soup can be prepared on any broth by choosing tender and dietary chicken, pork or beef. Cheese also goes well with turkey.
In the broth add peeled vegetables, cut into small cubes. Then comes the turn of fresh or frozen peas. All vegetables should be boiled for seven or ten minutes. Then grated cheese and canned corn are added. At the same time, the broth should be stirred all the time in order for the cheese to dissolve. Now you can add salt and other spices, at the end of cooking - finely chopped white part of leek. Then the soup is covered with a lid and allowed to infuse for ten minutes. Serve this dish best with croutons of white bread.
Salad with squid and cream cheese
Cream cheese recipes are quite popular. Despite the fact that many of them describe the preparation of soups, there are original and quick salads, in which cheese plays an important role.
To make a quick salad you need:
- carcasses of squid - 300 g;
- Druzhba processed cheese - 1 pc.;
- boiled egg - 2 pcs.;
- garlic to taste.
The first step is to remove the cheese in the freezer. Then squid carcasses are boiled. The boiled ingredients are cleaned of the films and cut into small strips, and finely chopped eggs should be added to them. Then the time comes for cheese: it is better to grate it and add to the salad. Garlic is passed through a press. The more cloves, the sharper the salad. Two small cloves of garlic are traditionally taken for this amount of ingredients. You can fill the salad with sour cream or mayonnaise, depending on the desire of the cook.