It Is Smelly, Though!

Hello,

You must've wondered a lot why I haven't posted any yet, mustn't you ?

It's been about 7 months since the last time I posted my previous posting, which was in April.

I'm sorry, during this 7 months I was pretty busy accomplishing my obligatory.

However, now I'm more than available to spoon you up more about foods !

Before I proceed to share today's posting, I'd like to inform you guys that I'm already back in Indonesia! Yes, I eventually am in Indonesia again.

But, it doesn't mean that I'd stop sharing what I found in Sweden. Because today, I want to share something unique about fermented food in Sweden. Do you know what it is ? I bet you may have guessed from the title, may not you ?

Like I said before, I'm gonna share a special food from Sweden.

This is a specific fermented food that is originated in Sweden, and is called Surströmming. 

Surströmming is a fermented herring, originated from 2 words, which are sur (sour / acidic) and strømming (a local name for herring fish caught in Baltic sea). According to that origin name, we may infer that Surströmming has sour taste due to the fermentation process.

How does it look like ? Check this out !

mediamatic.net

If you look in the picture above, the herring fish is cut into half and submerged in a cloudy solution. I'm telling you how to make Surströmming, then.

Skåra et al (2015) tried to simply explain how to make Surströmming. First thing first, the Baltic herrings must be caught in around May to early June, when the herring had low level of fat. The herrings are thereafter submerged in saturated salt solution for 1-2 days, the process is called as presalted. Next, all herrings must be deheaded and degutted. After all the herrings are clean, they are put into barrels with weaker salt solution (~17%). The herrings are fermented for 3 to 4 weeks, with occasionally rotated for the first 3 days. The fermentation is done under the temperature of 15 - 18oC. Last but not least, when the fermentation is finished, the Surströmming is transferred to cans together with its brine and sealed.

During the fermentation process, bacteria from Lactobacilli group are the most responsible for the formation of flavor and odor. Protein and fat from herrings are degraded as the fermentation goes on. Not only producing lactic acid, but also some volatile fatty acids are formed due to degradation of fats, such as propionic acid, butyric acid, and acetic acid. Furthermore, hydrogen sulfide is also known to be present in Surströmming. Even better, The Swedish National Food Agency has reported that there are no pathogen bacteria exist in Surströmming, for example Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, and Clostridium perfringens. This is because of combination effect from high heat treatment (pasteurization) and high salt concentration, which is commonly named as Hurdle concept. 

Surströmming is usually eaten in a special occasion in northern Sweden, called Surströmmings-klämma. Surströmming is served on top of a crispy thin bread and may come with mashed potato, diced onions, and butter. You can see it in the picture below :

hebe.se

surstromming,com

Swede may find this Surströmming is tasteful, but non-Swede may not want to stay close near it. There is known to be a manner to open a can of Surströmming, of which it has to be opened in open-air area, so the smell doesn't haunt anybody inside the house/building. Despite its smelly odor, it's quite nutritious with 11,8% of protein and 3,8% of fat.

I think that's already a long story for today.

I hope you enjoy reading it.

Thank you for visiting my blog, see you in other occasion !

Reference :

Skåra, Torstein et al. 2015. "Fermented and Ripened Fish Products in Northern European Countries". Journal of Ethnic Foods, vol.2 : 18 - 24.