Semmelwrap is a Swedish pastry. A semmelwrap is a variation of the Swedish

semla A , , Swedish eclair, /, , or is a traditional sweet roll made in various forms in Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Norway,

, a

cardamom Cardamom (), sometimes cardamon or cardamum, is a spice made from the seeds of several plants in the genus (biology), genera ''Elettaria'' and ''Amomum'' in the family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to the Indian subcontinent and Indon ...

-flavoured bun filled with

almond paste Almond paste is made from ground almonds or almond meal and sugar in equal quantities, with small amounts of cooking oil, eggs, heavy cream or corn syrup added as a binder. It is similar to marzipan, with a coarser texture. Almond paste is used a ...

and whipped cream. The semla is traditionally eaten on

Shrove Tuesday Shrove Tuesday (also known as Pancake Tuesday or Pancake Day) is the final day of Shrovetide, which marks the end of the pre-Lenten season. Lent begins the following day with Ash Wednesday. Shrove Tuesday is observed in many Christian state, Ch ...

. The ingredients of the semmelwrap are similar to those in a standard semla. The key difference between a traditional semla and the semmelwrap is that the dough is rolled thin and baked lightly, so that it can be rolled as a sandwich wrap around the whipped cream and almond paste. The semmelwrap was invented by Mattias Ljungberg at Tössebageriet, a bakery in

Östermalm Östermalm (; "Eastern city-borough") is a 2.56 km2 large district in central Stockholm, Sweden. With 71,802 inhabitants, it is one of Sweden's most populous and exclusive districts. It is an extremely expensive area, having the highest ho ...

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

. It was launched in January 2015 ahead of the semla season. According to Ljungberg the ambition had been to design a semla pastry that one could eat "on the go". The launching of the Semmelwrap quickly became a viral success, with broad coverage in Swedish publishing and social media. By late January 2015 Tössebageriet claimed to be selling around 1,000 Semmelwraps per day. Neither the name nor the design of the pastry was trademark protected by its creator. Other bakeries across the country soon began imitating the concept. However, the habit of eating semla on Shrove Tuesday is a deep-rooted Swedish tradition and the concept of the semmelwrap was met with scepticism by people preferring traditional semlas.

Etymology

At the time of the launch of the pastry, the correctness of its name began to be debated. Ljungberg himself insists that the name is "semmelwrap" (i.e. a semla-based wrap). However, the

Swedish Institute for Language and Folklore The Institute for Language and Folklore (, acronym Isof), is a Swedish government agency with the purpose of studying and collecting materials concerning dialects, folklore and onomastics. In June 2006 the Swedish government decided to centraliz ...

commented on the naming, stating that "wrapsemla" (i.e. a semla shaped as a wrap) or "rullsemla" ("rolled semla") would be more adequate namings.

References

{{reflist, 30em Swedish pastries 2015 in Sweden Almond dishes Carnival foods 21st-century establishments in Stockholm

Etymology

See also

References