"Why do you eat it?" asked our friend after seeing our pictures of the popular black Easter goo called Mämmi. Fair question... I think for me it is all about tradition. I love that on specific holidays in Finland most of the country feels compelled to step in their forefathers' footsteps and cook/eat something that they'd otherwise never bother to. (More about the "compulsory" food calendar in another post.)
My Swedish friends haven't heard of Mämmi so here we finally have 100% true Finnish dish - take that "Swedish meatballs"!
Mämmi is a dessert served only at Easter. It is basically a black, grainy porridge made out of rye flour, malt, water and in later years a bit of peel from something in English called "bitter orange" (Finnish pomeranssi) or syrup for sweetness. In looking up its history I found out it may have been eaten already back in the 1100-1200s which is when ovens apparently started getting used. First written recipes originate from the 1700s. Apparently mämmi was the treat one would get after fasting for lent and it spread from south-west Finland to the whole country by 1900s. The dessert pickings must have been slim back then...
I don't actually know anyone who loves mämmi but everyone tells me the famed Finnish cross-country ski Olympian (72-84 Olympics) Juha Mieto enjoys copious amounts of it each Easter. The rest of us respect tradition and make the dish palatable by dousing it in cream and sugar. Actually, to be honest, I joke about mämmi but I almost like the taste and look forward to it each Easter....
Apparently Finns are so keen about tradition that in 2014 1.7 million kilograms of mämmi was sold around Easter (only in stores once a year). Given there are about 5.5 million people in Finland this would translate to consumption of about 300 grams (about 1 1/4 cups) of mämmi per Finn! Really, with that much eaten you know it really isn't as bad as it looks. If you visit Finland late March/early April I challenge you to try it. And if you like the black-colour food theme you can always precede it with an entree of "musta makkara" (black sausage) which is actually blood sausage :)
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