Swedish Suorherrings (Fermented Baltic Herring)

Herring caught in the Baltic in May and June, is soaked in brine then stacked in barrels that are put out in the sun to get the fermentation process going. When the Baltic Herring is fermented it is put in small tin and should be stored in the fridge.

It is served straight from the tin, on thin, crisp barley bread with boiled new potatoes, chopped onion, tomato and sour cream. We drinking milk or beer, it doesn’t taste with alcohol for us.

"You get used to the smell after a couple of meal” if you like it, “and then it starts the Taste-Bud to work positive” and you can’t awere it!

Historians say “surströmming”, as it is named In Sweden, was first created in wartime, when Swedish troops building a northern European empire in the 17th and 18th centuries needed ready food for long marches.

The dish of fermented herring, rivals Asia's fermented fish sauces, Iceland's buried shark, “håkarl”, or Norway's "lutefisk" and “rakfisch” as one of the world's most objectionable delicacies.

There is a Scania society to protect this cultural treasure, the Vanga Surstromming Academy (this webpage).