Surströmming (pronounced as 'sur strem-ming') is one of the local food in Sweden that is definitely not a must-try! Haha! It is fermented herring fish that is commonly found in the north of Sweden. Even those from Stockholm do not find this dish appealing. The smell is so bad that one can only open the can in the forest, where it is away from people. Some people gets nauseous just by smelling the fish.
Here is a history on this fermented herring fish from Wikipedia.
Surströmming is a lightly-salted fermented Baltic Sea herring traditional to Swedish cuisine since at least the 16th century. The Baltic herring, known as strömming in Swedish, is smaller than the Atlantic herring, found in the North Sea. Traditionally, the definition of strömming is "herring fished in the brackish waters of the Baltic north of the Kalmar Strait". The herring used for surströmming are caught just prior to spawning in April and May.
During the production of surströmming, just enough salt is used to prevent the raw herring from rotting while allowing it to ferment. A fermentation process of at least six months gives the fish its characteristic strong smell and somewhat acidic taste. According to a Japanese study, 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.
Today, Sundbyberg town organised a Surströmming Day. Sundbyberg town organises this day annually on the last Thursday of August. It has been in my checklist to try this food. The booth that sells the fermented herring fish was located at the end of the other stalls and also one street away from the other stalls. That is how bad the smell is. Before I got to this stall, I was expecting a strong smell of rubbish to waft through the air but I got a faint smell in the air. I cannot describe what is that smell but it definitely was not so bad as I expected.
We stood in queue and paid SEK100 for a plate of three fermented herring fish that comes with boiled potatoes, chopped onions and yoghurt, and a canned drink.
There was a lot of people eating the fermented herring fish. We spoke to two ladies in front of us during the queue and they were from the north where they commented that they love the dish.
That is my plate of fermented herring fish. One debones the fish i.e. remove the skin and its inside and scrap off the flesh from the bone. Put it on the dry bread. Top it with onions and potatoes. Place a blob of yoghurt on top of it. The taste is not so bad with all the toppings. Eventually, the smell reminds me of clogged drain. Haha!
I finished up my plate with my friend only trying 20% of the fish. And after that, we had churros to 'clean' our mouth.
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