Surströmming, a fermented herring considered to be a famous delicacy in Sweden, is also known as one of the most pungent foods in the world.
What does surströmming taste like?
What does surströmming taste like? Well, the Swedes are right – it really doesn’t taste as bad as it smells. Unsurprisingly, it has a fishy flavour, but with the sharp tang of a good blue cheese. It’s certainly is an acquired taste, but most Swedes love it – and you may well come to enjoy it as well.
What does stinky fish taste like?
Swedes usually eat Surströmming with thin flatbreads and oat breads. Surströmming reportedly has a very sour, sharp, peppery taste with a salty baseline of flavor. Surprisingly many people say the taste isn’t actually that strong or notable once you get over the initial shock of the smell.
What is the stinky fish in a can?
surströmming
A newly opened can of surströmming has one of the most putrid food smells in the world, even stronger than similarly fermented fish dishes such as the Korean hongeohoe or Japanese kusaya.
Do Swedes actually like surströmming?
The strömming used for surströmming are caught just prior to spawning and the fermentation starts from a lactic acid enzyme in the spine of the fish which releases pungent smelling acids as well as hydrogen sulphide! Despite this many Swedes still love surströmming!
How do people enjoy surströmming?
Surströmming is often eaten with a kind of bread known as tunnbröd (“thin bread”), either soft or crispy. With the soft bread, it’s possible to make a roll, and with the hard bread it can be eaten as a sandwich, or an open sandwich.
How do you enjoy surströmming?
How to eat surströmming like a local: As the tin is pressurised, open the surströmming in a basin of water. Wash it, gut it, and wrap it in buttered ‘tunnbröd’ (a type of sweetened flat bread) with slices of almond potatoes and diced onion. Accompany with beer, snaps and lots of friends.
What is the stinkiest food in the world?
8 of the world’s stinkiest foods
- Durian. (Canva)
- Locust fruit. (mauroguanandi on Visualhunt.com / CC BY)
- Surströmming. A sandwich made with Surströmming, potatoes, onions and sour cream.
- Stinky tofu. (Maya83 on Visual Hunt / CC BY-SA)
- Nattō (Canva)
- Stink beans. (Canva)
- Century egg. (Canva)
- Hákarl.
What is the smell of rotten eggs?
Hydrogen sulfide
Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a colourless gas with a characteristic odour of rotten eggs which being denser than air may pool in low areas in still conditions.
Why do people eat fermented fish?
The Eskimo community probably had fermented fish as a staple food because fish and other aquatic animals are their primary sources of food due to the lack of vegetation in cold temperatures. Fermented fish also do not require a person to build a fire, and they can be eaten long after they have been caught.
What is the stinkiest smell in the world?
Thioacetone is considered a dangerous chemical due to its extremely foul odor and ability to render people unconscious, induce vomiting, and be detected over long distances. In 1967, Esso researchers repeated the experiment of cracking trithioacetone, at a laboratory south of Oxford, UK.
Can surströmming make you sick?
Thanks to the association with rotted fish, many people wonder “is surströmming safe to eat?” or whether the food will make them sick. First of all, surströmming is completely safe, as the fish is fermented, not rotten.
What fish is soaked in lye?
codfish
Lutefisk—codfish (fisk) preserved in lye (lut)—is both a delicacy and a tradition among Scandinavian-Americans, who serve the chemical-soaked, gelatinous fish with a warm and friendly smile. Lutefisk, or lutfisk in Swedish, is a traditional dish in Norway, Sweden, and parts of Finland.
Who actually eats surströmming?
Surströmming, a fermented herring considered to be a famous delicacy in Sweden, is also known as one of the most pungent foods in the world. And there’s one more must-have accompaniment: beer. Herring has been a key part of Swedish culture for centuries.
Can you bring surströmming on a plane?
Surströmming, of fermented herring, is a strong-smelling delicacy, sold in cans that swell in storage. Four airlines – British Airways, Finnair, Air France and KLM – have banned passengers from carrying the cans on the plane, Aftonbladet reports.
Does surströmming expire?
Surströmming is a delicacy if eaten properly.
We will always sell surströmming well within the expiry dates. The cans are stamped “Bäst före”, that means it’s recommended to consume it before that date. Although surströmming ages like a wine, but if it’s stored too long it will dissolve.
How was surströmming invented?
It has its roots back in the 16th century when the Swedish sailors ran low on salt. As the story goes, a group of Swedish sailors sold a barrel of “bad” herring at a Finnish port. Salt was a major ingredient used to preserve food, and their barrels of herring started to go bad.
What is surströmming used for?
The most common way to consume surströmming is with tunnbröd (thin bread) which is a soft or crisp very thin bread commonly baked in the north of Sweden. The bread is consumed in Sweden all year. Usually, a sandwich is made with surströmming, butter, potatoes, sour cream and diced onion.
Does surströmming have bones?
And of course you get the bones out. Unlike pickled herring, where the acidity softens the bones, the spine of a surströmming is not pleasant to eat. Eating it indoors is fine. You don’t need a bucket of water to open it in.
Is surströmming raw?
NOBODY of sound mind or stomach should eat surströmming in the way they were demonstrating. So we decided to make a little video of the correct way to eat it. It’s still basically raw fish that’s been fermented with just enough salt to prevent rot.
What cheese smells like sweaty socks?
14. Taleggio. This Italian cow’s milk cheese from the Val Taleggio region is washed in seawater once a week during aging to arrive at its wet-socks-and-grass aroma; beneath the rind is a subtle, sweet and tangy cheese that is far more mellow than its smell would suggest.