Helpful Grocery Shopping Vocabulary

Click for Shopping

Butter – Máslo

• Čerstvé máslo is fresh butter and the best choice when a recipe calls for pure butter.
• Stolní máslo is second quality butter.
• Tuk do těsta is a mixture of shortening and butter, best for making a pastry dough.
• Máslo s rostlinným tukem which is a mixture of butter and vegetable shortening.
• Rostlinný tuk is a vegetable shortening (similar to Crisco) and sold in 220 gram blocks in the dairy case.  220 grams is approximately 1 cup.

Margarine

Hera or Perla are two brands or margarine sold in blocks, although there are various brands available suitable for baking.

Rama and Flora are good basic brands of tub margarine. There are many on the market with various fat bases (vegetable, corn, etc.) and also “light” spreads. It is a matter of experimenting for taste and preference.

Cheese – Sýr

Tvaroh is the closest equivalent to cottage cheese, although “real” cottage cheese can be found in Tesco, Delvita and some other supermarkets. Tvaroh měkký is used for baking, while tvaroh tvrdý is grated. Tesco also has real ricotta cheese.

Kiri and Buko are the closest equivalents to cream cheese, with Lučina in a close but gritty second. Pomazánka is a soft cream cheese spread sold in different flavors.

Cream - Smetana

Cream is sold several ways. Heavy or whipping cream is šlehačka, light cream is smetana, and cream for coffee is polosmetana or smetana do kávy.

Eggs— Vejce

Fresh eggs are stamped with a red circle. Older refrigerated eggs have a black circle. Eggs are usually sold in conventional cartons at large grocery stores containing 6 or 10 eggs.

Milk—Mleko

Most milk is sold as long-life (trvanlivé) in aseptic boxes. They have a long shelf-life, and the expiration date is stamped on the top of the box. Once opened, keep refrigerated and treat as fresh milk. Fresh (čerstvé) milk is refrigerated, but long-life milk can be confusingly sold either refrigerated or not. All milk is sold with varying fat (tuk) contents:

• Plnotučné is 3.5% whole fat milk.
• Polonotučné is 1.5% low fat milk.
• Nizkotučné is 0.5%-0.8% low fat milk.
• Evaporated condensed milk (zahuštěné slazené mléko) is sold under the Salko brand with a drawing of a cow and mountains on the label.
• Podmáslí is buttermilk.
• Dr. Oetker Smeta-Fix is an additive to make whipping cream “stand up” and not deflate. It comes in small packets found in the baking aisle. The next best thing to Cool Whip!

In the Baking Aisle:

Droždí (yeast) is sold by cube-shaped cakes in the dairy cooler or small packets of instantní droždí in the baking aisle. One cake is equal to 2 Tablespoons of the dry yeast.

Jedlá soda (baking soda)

• Kyprici prášek do pečiva (baking powder) is sold under different brand names such as Vitana or Dr. Oetker. Each packet contains approximately 1 tablespoon.
• Kukuričný škrob (cornstarch) is sold under the brand Dr. Oetker as Gustin Maizena.
• Skořicový cukr is a cinnamon sugar.
• Vanilkový cukr (vanilla-flavored sugar) is sold in packets in the baking aisle. Under the Dr. Oetker brand, you can also find small vials of vanilla (and lemon) essence. Sometimes bottles of vanilla extract can be found with the international foods in Tesco.
• Chocolate chips—You can buy large bars of solid chocolate (dark, milk and white) in the candy aisle and chop them into chunks for a very good quality and tasty cookie.

Flour

• Hladká mouka is finely ground flour (also seen as Hladka Special 00 Extra on some flour bags). It can be used for both bread and cakes but it is not self-rising.
• Hrubá mouka is coarsely ground flour, from hard wheat. This flour is preferred for making bread because of its high protein and low starch content. It is also used to make dumplings.
• Krupice (semolina/durum flour) is ground from durum wheat and makes a strong, sturdy dough frequently used for pasta.
• Mouka bezlepkova is a high gluten flour derived from hard wheat with starch removed and protein concentrated. Gluten flour is for people who cannot tolerate wheat flour.
• Polohruba is a semi-course flour.
• Wholewheat (celozrnna mouka), graham, rye (zitna mouka), corn (kukuricne mouka), and other flours can also be found. Psenicne Otruby is a wheat bran, a little bit finer than our Miller’s bran. Spaldova is a nice quality of wheat flour, sold in health food stores.

Meats and Poultry - Maso and Drubeź

• Kuře (chicken) is sold fresh and frozen, whole and in parts. Bez kosti means boneless. Kuřecí prsa is chicken breast, and kuře stehno is chicken thigh.
• Krůti (turkey) is found in vacuum packs fresh or frozen.  You can find whole frozen turkeys as well. Also in vacuum packs are smoked (uzené) turkey parts. Krůti prsa is turkey breast (whole piece), krůti prsa řizky is turkey breast cutlets and krůta stehno is turkey thigh.
• Hovězí (beef) is sold fresh, however, some of the cuts may look different. One very good cut is svíčková or tenderloin. Mleté maso is ground or minced meat, and can be found with all beef or a mixture of beef and pork.
• Vepřové (pork) is also sold fresh and in various cuts which should be familiar to you.
• Jeněčí (lamb) and teleci (veal) are also available but more frozen than fresh.
• Šunka (ham) is found at the deli counter as various types. Uzené šunka is smoked ham. Whole hams can be found usually at a store specializing in meats.

Spices are sold in bottles or packets. Cély means whole, and mletý is ground.

Sugar - Cukr

Krystal is the coarsest grain and is generally used for decorating cookies, cakes, and pastries.  It is often served with coffee and tea in restaurants.

Krupice is granulated sugar and appropriate for baking.

Mouka is similar to confectioners sugar. Icings made using mouka tend to have a grainy texture. It can be mixed with warm liquid such as water or lemon juice to make a glaze.

Mouka kostky are sugar cubes and are seen in 0.5 kg boxes.

Tesco sometimes stocks its own brand of light and dark brown sugar.

Return to menu page