Kohuke

Kohuke is a sweet dairy snack made from curd cheese pressed into a bar shape and often coated in chocolate, belonging to the family of curd snacks. It originated in the Soviet Union and is today best known in the Baltic states.

History

Mass production of curd snacks began in the Soviet Union in the 1950s, and they quickly became popular. Early versions were flavoured simply, with vanilla, cocoa or raisins. From the 1990s the range widened, with cookie pieces, apricot, strawberry jam and boiled condensed milk appearing among the fillings.

The curd is mixed with sugar or other sweeteners, milled into a smooth paste and shaped before being filled with jam or other fillings. The bars then pass under a glaze waterfall that coats them in chocolate or another glaze, cool in a tunnel and are packed. They keep only a few days, or one to two weeks if refrigerated.

Culture

The name kohuke is an Estonian diminutive built on kohupiim, a type of curd. In Latvian and Lithuanian the snack carries names that also refer to cheese. It is an everyday treat across Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and it stayed popular after the Soviet period. In a 2010 Estonian survey, 74% said they ate as much or more than before, and 57% preferred local brands to imports.

Baltic shops offer many versions, with jam, biscuit, cocoa, marzipan, vanilla, dulce de leche (varyonka) or banana. Well-known brands include Kārums from Latvia and Nykštukas, Magija and Pasaka from Lithuania. Estonia also made headlines in 2013, when it set a world record with a curd snack weighing 537 kilograms.

Trivia