February 02, 2005
nordic brown
A visit to a new supermarket gave me the opportunity to try two Nordic delicacies: both brown, both sweet, both virtually indestructable, and both somewhat an acquired taste.
Brunost is Norwegian brown cheese. Brown, sweet goat's cheese. candace had alerted me to its existence, but the Norwegian expat commmunity must be small here, as I couldn't find it in Stockmann.
How can you describe brunost (in this case, gudbrandsdalsost)? Well, it is goaty. And slightly sweet. And saltier than I expected. The texture, is, well like slicable set wallpaper paste jelly. It is a taste that was just on the wrong side of acceptable for me, I'm afraid. I think candace was left with an unused block too.
Mämmi, on the other hand is Finnish. I'd seen it in the supermarkets after Christmas, and it scared me. It's the blackest substance known to man (except, maybe, squid ink). The stores here are prone to stocking refridgerated food in no order at all, and I thought this might have something to do with other blood-based delights.
Asking around at work, though, reveals that mämmi is a dessert, normally served only at Easter (general surprise that it was already available), and made traditionally out of fermented rye, or these days malt. It was served at Easter because, well, nothing by then would be left after the long winter - no Shrove Tuesdays necessary! Mämmi is served covered in a little sugar and some cream.
This mämmi contained both malt and rye, and was actually palatable, and even maybe tasty. It's a good shot of something like wet concentrated rye bread, mixed with a little sweetness and the homemade ale served here at lunch. It is edible on its own, but a little sugar really does help. Not something I'd want all year (unlike Runeberg cakes), but an interesting local novelty.
So, Finland 1, Norway 0. If you know of any Swedish food that is brown, sweet (and noone other than a citizen would dare eat it), then please let me know. Also, anything Lappish would be interesting, but I feel Lapp cheese is their squeaky strange equivalent.
Trackbacks
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.anti-mega.com/cgi-bin/mt/addmttb.cgi/1138
