Mämmi (; sv, label=

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

, memma) is a traditional Finnish dessert, eaten around

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

. Mämmi is traditionally made of water,

rye Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe (Triticeae) and is closely related to both wheat (''Triticum'') and barley (genus ''Hordeum''). Rye grain is u ...

flour, powdered malted rye, seasoned salt and dried, powdered Seville orange zest. The mixture is then left to sweeten naturally, before being baked in an oven until set, by when the colour and flavour has developed due to the Maillard reaction. After baking, the mämmi is chilled for three to four days before serving. Unlike traditional mämmi, which is left to sweeten naturally, commercially made mämmi is usually seasoned with dark molasses. Traditional mämmi has an aromatic and sweet flavour, consisting of just 2% sugar or less, whereas commercially produced mämmi can contain as much as 20% sugar and is therefore much different in flavour. Mämmi has up to 10% protein and is rich in trace elements. Traditionally, mämmi was stored in small boxes made of

birch bark Birch bark or birchbark is the bark of several Eurasian and North American birch trees of the genus ''Betula''. The strong and water-resistant cardboard-like bark can be easily cut, bent, and sewn, which has made it a valuable building, crafti ...

called ''tuokkonen'' or ''rove'', the appearance of which is now mimicked by commercial packaging. Typically, mämmi is eaten cold, with either milk or cream and sugar, and less commonly with vanilla sauce. Traditionally, it was also eaten on sliced bread as a spread. There is a Finnish society for mämmi founded by Ahmed Ladarsi, the former chef at the Italian Embassy in Helsinki, who has developed around fifty recipes containing mämmi. There are a number of websites with recipes using mämmi, most of them Finnish. Mämmi is also used as a minor ingredient in a mämmi beer by

Laitilan Wirvoitusjuomatehdas Laitilan Wirvoitusjuomatehdas is a Finnish brewery and a soft drinks company based in Laitila. It was founded in 1995 and now the company owns several brands, such as: Kukko beers, OIVA ciders, Kievari beers and Wanhanajan Limonaadi lemonades. T ...

History

Mämmi was first mentioned during the 16th century, in a dissertation (in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

). It is claimed that it has been eaten in southwestern Finland ever since the 13th century. Traditionally mämmi is eaten during the

season. Today,

Finns Finns or Finnish people ( fi, suomalaiset, ) are a Baltic Finnic ethnic group native to Finland. Finns are traditionally divided into smaller regional groups that span several countries adjacent to Finland, both those who are native to these ...

seldom make mämmi at home and most modern mämmi is factory-made. Traditional versions of mämmi are sold in Finland with the labels ''perinteinen'' (traditional) or ''luomu'' (organic). Some people of Finnish descent in North America and Australia still make mämmi at home.

References

External links

Nutrition of Mämmi (with malt), Sweetened Malt Porridge, Finnish Easter PuddingMämmi Maestro. Ahmed Ladarsi is an expert on a Finnish "delicacy"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mammi Finnish desserts Easter food Rye-based dishes Malt National dishes Citrus dishes

History

See also

References

External links