Mämmi (; ) is a traditional Finnish dessert, eaten around

Easter Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...

. 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 grown principally in an area from Eastern and Northern Europe into Russia. It is much more tolerant of cold weather and poor soil than o ...

flour, ground malted rye, salt, and dried, ground Seville orange zest. The mixture is then left to sweeten naturally, before being baked in an oven until set, by which time 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 Molasses () is a viscous byproduct, principally obtained from the refining of sugarcane or sugar beet juice into sugar. Molasses varies in the amount of sugar, the method of extraction, and the age of the plant. Sugarcane molasses is usuall ...

. 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 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.

History

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

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

). It is claimed that it has been eaten in southwestern Finland ever since the 13th century. Today,

Finns Finns or Finnish people (, ) are a Baltic Finns, 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 cou ...

rarely 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 North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

still make mämmi at home.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mammi Finnish desserts Easter food Rye-based dishes Malt National dishes Citrus dishes

History

See also

References

External links