Finnish food is simply amazing. The country has a great and vast landscape that provides the population with tons of fresh berries and vegetables, and most of the Finns live in rural towns where farming is common. A large portion of Finland borders the Gulf of Bothnia and the Baltic Sea, which provides the Finns with a large variety of fish. Finns value high-quality products and don’t care for flash or extravagance, and this is clearly visible in Finnish cuisine.
Tourists who visit Finland immediately notice the quality of Finnish food and the care that goes into making it. Even though Finland is a country that likes to hold on to traditions, Finnish cuisine has nonetheless transformed in recent years. Traditional Finnish food has merged with haute cuisine and modern continental style cooking, which has created an exciting new Finnish food culture. Finland is a must for those who enjoy quality food with a modern yet authentic touch.
Bread – the ultimate Finnish food
Finns love bread so much that they eat it with most meals. Finnish rye bread is the most common bread, and it’s dark, sour, and dense. There are different varieties of rye bread, such as limppu or reikäleipä. Limppu is like a heavy and dense loaf, whereas reikäleipä is usually round, dense and relatively thin.
Finnish Rieska Bread
The Rieska bread is a traditional Finnish flatbread. Finns often make this bread with oat, rye, barley or potato, and they serve it warm. Finns prefer to eat them with toppings, such as cured salmon and dill.
Finnish crispbread (näkkileipä)
I assure you that there is at least one box of crispbread in every house in Finland. People love crispbread, which is the Finnish equivalent of Swedish knäckebröd. Finns love to eat crispbread with butter, cheese, ham, or salmon on top.
Typical Finnish breakfast foods
Finnish people drink the most coffee per capita in the world, and coffee in the morning is the most important cup of the day. Those who don’t drink coffee usually just drink a glass of milk instead.
Finnish Porridge
Finnish porridge is very tasty, and usually topped with fresh or preserved berries or jam, depending on the season. Finns like to pour some milk over the porridge as well, and often Finns eat rye bread with the porridge.
Bread, bread, bread
Finnish people really, truly love bread. It’s very common in Finland that you just simply eat bread with whatever toppings you can find: ham, cheese, cooked eggs, or even leftover meat!
Also Read: Finnish Breakfast: Everything You Need to Know
Warm Finnish food & popular Finnish dishes
Most Finns are proud carnivores, and meat (and fish) have an important place in Finnish food culture. Meatballs are simple to make and delicious, and Finns consider meatballs as an “everyday meal”. Meatballs consist of ground beef, flour, and sometimes eggs. Finns usually eat meatballs together with a thick, brown sauce, mashed potatoes, and lingonberry jam.
The very, very strange Finnish food “Kalakukko”
Kalakukko is one of the most authentic Finnish dishes, but nowadays the dish is more common in the Eastern parts of Finland. This dish consists of rye bread that has been baked with fish and bacon in it.
Image credit: Mikko Kuhna
Sautéed reindeer (poronkäristys)
Sautéed reindeer is the national dish of Finland–and it’s delicious! This dish comes from Arctic Lapland where the Saame people live. To properly make this dish, you slice the reindeer meat and sautée it in butter, sometimes with onions, and then you let the meat simmer in beer until it’s incredibly tender. Sautéed reindeer is often served with mashed potatoes and lingonberry jam.
Image credit: Tiago Silva
Spring potatoes (uudet perunat)
Spring is a holy season for Finns all across the country. After a long and dark winter, there is nothing better than seeing the snow melt off of the roof. Spring is also the season of spring potatoes, and most Finns eat spring potatoes all spring and all summer. Spring potatoes are smaller and denser than regular potatoes, and they’re also sweeter. Finns like to eat spring potatoes with pickled herring (or some other fish), cooked eggs, dill, and butter.
Finnish salmon soup (lohikeitto)
Finnish salmon soup is simply delicious and a great meal for a cold winter day! Since Finns tend to use simple, quality ingredients, this is a quick meal that anyone can throw together. All you need to make this is salmon, potatoes, dill, some carrots (or whatever vegetables you have), butter and heavy cream. And, of course, it’s common to eat this awesome soup with bread.
Image credit: hugovk
Finnish pea soup (hernekeitto)
Pea soup is perhaps the most popular soup in Finland, and for some strange reason it has become a tradition across the entire country to eat pea soup on Thursdays. Finnish pea soup is made with split peas, bacon, onion, and sometimes cream, and it’s an absolute must to top the soup with hot mustard! Often, Finnish people eat pancakes after as dessert.
Image credit: Robert Andersson
Finnish sausage sauce (nakkikastike)
This is another hearty and satisfying dish for those cold winter days. This sauce is made with small sausages, called “nakki” in Finnish, which resembles hot dogs. To make nakkikastike, you simply slice the sausage and sautée it together with butter, heavy cream, onions, and tomato paste. It’s usually eaten with mashed potatoes and crispbread.
Image credit: Fliksi.fi
Finnish potato casserole (imelletty perunalaatikko)
This dish takes a long time to make, but it’s really good. Perunalaatikko consists of mashed potatoes and wheat flour that has been left in a warm place, which gives sweetness to it. It’s then baked until it’s golden-brown and crispy on the outside.
Sailor’s stew (merimiespata)
This dish is full of flavors and is incredibly satisfying–perfect for hungry sailors! Sailor’s stew is easy to make, you simply cook beef, potatoes, and onions in beer (often in the oven), and serve it with lingonberry jam and bread.
Maksalaatikko, the Finns’ favorite Finnish food
This is the Holy Grail in Finnish cuisine (and my personal favorite Finnish food). It’s a rich and tasty liver casserole. Finnish people love it so much that this is one of those few dishes that can actually be bought in stores throughout the country.
Maksalaatikko is a type of casserole that is comprised of rice, ground liver, onions, eggs, and sometimes bacon and raisins, and is baked in the oven. It’s hearty and salty and Finns love to eat it together with lingonberry jam.
Image credit: Mika Meskanen
Finnish pastries
This is the one and only Finnish pastry that you need to know of. This is a traditional Finnish food that consists of rice filling in a rye crust. Finnish people eat karjalanpiirakka while still warm, so that the butter melts on top.
Image credit: Marco Verch
Finnish desserts
Finns love pancakes–in fact, they eat pancakes every Thursday, after they have finished their pea soup. These types of pancakes are made in the oven, and they’re usually much thicker than regular pancakes.
What do Finns top their pancakes with? Whipped cream, and any type of jam; it can be strawberry jam, blueberry jam, raspberry jam, either store-bought or homemade.
Finnish blueberry pie
Image credit: Michael Kappel
Finnish pulla bread
Finnish pulla is a sweet, buttery cardamom bread that tastes like heaven and smells like Christmas. It’s glazed with eggs, butter, and sugar, and it’s often braided. This is the perfect light dessert to go with a cup of tea or coffee, either in the morning or in the afternoon.
Image credit: Julia
Finnish squeaky cheese (leipäjuusto)
This strange Finnish coffee bread is strangely good. And yes, it literally squeaks when you eat it–hence the name. It’s traditionally made with cow’s milk that is curdled and baked, which gives it its distinctive brown marks, and it’s a must to eat it with cloudberry jam.
Image credit: Magnus Franklin
Finnish rye porridge (the Finnish food you might want to avoid)
This is a traditional Finnish dessert that tourists should be wary of. The case of mämmi is similar to that of licorice: if you haven’t grown up eating it, you probably won’t like it.
Mämmi is made with rye flour, rye malt, and water, and it’s seasoned with molasses syrup, which gives it an incredibly thick texture. Mämmi is traditionally eaten around easter, but it’s never eaten just as it is. Finns often pour plenty of sugar on it, together with some heavy cream. However, even those who absolutely love this dark dessert can’t eat much of it since it’s very filling.
Image credit: Antti T. Nissinen
Runeberg cake (Runebergintorttu)
This funny-looking dessert got its name from a famous Finnish poet, Johan Ludvig Runeberg. The Runeberg cake has the shape of a cylinder, and tastes of almond, ginger, and cardamom, and Finns often top the cake with plain white icing and raspberry jam. However, Finnish people only eat this dessert in January and February since Runeberg’s birthday is on 5th of February.
Image credit: Erkka Peitso
Laskiaispulla (or semla in Swedish)
This delicious, cream-filled pastry is so good, and the Swedes know it, too. Laskiaispulla is the exact same as the Swedish semla. It’s really very simple to make laskiaispulla: bake a bun, slice it in half, and fill it with strawberry jam and whipped cream. The laskiaispulla is often a cause of argument since some people argue that the filling should be creamy almond paste instead of strawberry jam. I am Finnish, and I’m on team strawberry jam.
Most iconic dishes to eat in Finland – Pin it!
Finnish desserts and pastries are amazing, there’s no question about it. Finns have a flourishing coffee culture–in fact, Finnish people drink the most coffee per capita in the world. When they drink coffee, no matter if it’s early in the morning or in the evening, there’s usually something sweet accompanying the coffee.
The Finnish cuisine is not flashy nor extravagant; it’s easy to make tasty Finnish food. People in Finland tend to use what they have and prepare it with whatever tools are available to them. In their cooking, they only care for taste and quality, and this is very apparent in Finnish pastries and desserts.
Below I have listed the most famous Finnish desserts and pastries for you to try while you’re in Finland.
Munkki
Image credit: Simon Götz
Munkki is basically a deep-fried doughnut, and it’s absolutely delicious. Occasionally they’re filled with strawberry jam or vanilla cream, but Finns like to eat these just as they are. Finns usually make these on Vappu, which is a holiday in May. They’re almost always eaten outside, even though it’s often still cold in May.
Tippaleipä
Image credit: kahvikisu
While we’re discussing May, I might also mention the famous tippaleipä. Tippaleipä is a type of funnel cake that during the past decades has become one of the main treats of Vappu. This delicious dessert is fried, crunchy, and just as sweet as anything. But watch out–they’re addictive!
Mämmi
This is a rather ghastly-looking dessert that people either like or strongly dislike, there’s no in between. Finnish people only eat this Finnish easter pudding around–yes, you guessed it–easter.
It’s made from rye flour, rye malt and water. The rye makes the dessert heavy, so a couple of spoonfuls of this dessert will definitely satisfy your hunger. However, Finns never eat this as it is: they always put copious amounts of heavy cream and sugar on top.
Image credit: Erik Forsberg
This is the most wonderful season of the year! Finnish people eat laskiaispulla–which is the same as the Swedish semla–during January and February. This wonderful dessert is common in Finland, Sweden, and Denmark. The laskiaispulla has its origins from Shrove Tuesday and Lent; what better dessert to indulge on than this sweet and cream-filled bun?
This weird and salty dessert, known as squeaky cheese in English, is a favourite among the Finns. It’s made of a mixture of cow’s milk and beestings that has been baked in the oven. Finns usually eat it with cloudberry jam, together with a cup of coffee.
And yes, it really does squeak! To a foreigner, this dessert might feel strange, but to Finns, this dessert often tastes of childhood.
Image credit: Kaarina D
The simple Finnish pulla looks like a loaf of bread but it’s sweet and incredibly soft. It’s usually spiced with cardamom and plenty of sugar, and Finnish people eat this throughout the year together with their coffee.
Köyhät ritarit
Image credit: Karen Neoh
Köyhät ritarit, meaning “poor knights”, is Finland’s version of the French toast. Like always, Finns emphasize practicality over extravagance and thus they often make this dessert with leftover slices of Finnish pulla bread.
To make this dessert, all you have to do is mix eggs, milk, cinnamon and sugar, dip the slices in the batter, and toast the pieces of bread in a frying pan. Top this off with some Finnish berries and you’re set. This is how simple (and tasty) the Finnish cuisine is.
Joulutortut
Joulutortut means Christmas stars, and they’re served around Christmas. These are made of puff pastry and plum filling and dusted with icing sugar. Many families across the country make these pastries themselves because they’re so simple and so very delicious.
Runebergin tortut
This dessert was named after the famous Finnish poet J. L. Runeberg, and is eaten only in early February. Runeberg’s wife, Fredrika Runeberg, invented this dessert in honor of her husband. The dough is flavoured with almonds and arrack or rum, and topped with raspberry jam and a ring of sugar icing.
Finnish cake
Finns usually spend their summers out in the countryside or in the archipelago, where cooking is simple and rustic. Throughout summer, and perhaps especially around Midsummer, Finns love to make a simple traditional Finnish cake with whipped cream and strawberries on top.
It’s simple, tasty, and light, and is perfect to eat while looking out on the beautiful Finnish lakes. This recipe is also used to make a traditional Finnish birthday cake.
Korvapuusti
Image credit: Alexandra
Korvapuusti is the Finnish version of the Swedish cinnamon bun (kanelbulle in Swedish). Finnish cinnamon buns are heavy, creamy, and go perfectly with coffee. This dessert is part of the Finnish-Swedish heritage, and many families make this dessert themselves throughout the year. These cinnamon buns can also be bought in stores by the bag.
Must-visit cafés for desserts & pastries in Finland
When you go to Finland, you really should visit the Karl Fazer Café. The café is named after Karl Fazer, who invented the Fazer chocolate. The café houses a luxurious dish of Finnish pastries and desserts, and you can also buy a variety of Finnish chocolate (which is really good quality, by the way).
You can also find another famous café, Café Engel in the historical quarters of Helsinki. This café has a great view of central Helsinki and historic buildings. The café also served typical Finnish food to give you a taste of what Finnish families eat.
Are you hungry yet? Finland has tons of delicious desserts and pastries to offer anyone who travels this far north. However, what is vastly more important than the desserts and pastries themselves is what they represent: quality time with the people you care about.
During the Finns’ daily coffee breaks, the most important thing is connecting with people and enjoying yourself. As a native Finn, I genuinely believe that the Finnish coffee culture is one of the reasons why Finland was named the happiest country in the world (again).
Yummy Finnish desserts and pastries – Pin it!
Versions of this traditional rye bread abound in Finland, ranging from crisp and cracker-like to thick and hearty. This is in the latter camp: a slightly dense bread that’s great for toasting and slathering with jam or honey.
Note: Stone ground dark rye flour is available from Bob’s Red Mill.
adapted from Scandinavian Classic Baking
- stone ground dark rye flour (see note)
- 1 1/4 cups ( )
- cold , diced
food processor or pastry cutter, baking sheet, parchment paper
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(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)
Rye flour is my favourite flour for bread baking. It produces breads with a rich and hearty taste, complex nutty flavours and a moist, dense and chewy texture. 100% pure rye breads are higher in fibre and lower in fat than wheat loaves and therefore have added health benefits. From a practical viewpoint, I also love the longevity of rye loaves. Here are my top four 100% rye bread recipes, all based on sourdough baking.
100% Russian rye bread with cheese and vine tomatoes
100% pure rye flour baking notes
There is one thing in all-rye bread baking I don’t enjoy – the sticky dough which is difficult to handle. However, the good thing is that rye gluten isn’t particularly strong and kneading is therefore not required.
For purist reasons, I prefer not to add colouring agents such as molasses, malt, treacle, caramel, coffee or cocoa to achieve that rich, dark colour associated with rye breads.
Having experimented with quite a few 100% rye bread recipes, my favourite loaves use sourdough, no commercial yeast. All recipes below are 100% rye sourdough loaves, without wheat flour. If you haven’t already got a rye sourdough starter, you can easily prepare one from scratch.
My top four 100% rye bread recipes
The recipe I love most requires only four ingredients: rye sourdough starter, rye flour, water and salt. I usually add a bit of Brotgewürz as an optional addition as it enhances the flavour of the loaf.
The recipe has been taken from the book Bread Matters: Why and How to Make Your Own
by Andrew Whitley and has been slightly adapted. Here is how it’s done –
Day 1 – Prepare Sourdough
- In a bowl, combine 50g rye sourdough starter, 220g wholemeal rye flour and 220g lukewarm water.
- Cover and keep at room temperature for approx. 16 – 24 hours.
Day 2 – Prepare Dough
- In a large bowl, combine 440g of yesterday’s sourdough mixture (keep the remaining sourdough for your next bake), 260g rye flour, 200g lukewarm water and 7g salt (plus 1 large tbsp of Brotgewürz if you like).
- Mix thoroughly, place the dough back into the bowl, cover and rest for approx. 30 minutes.
- Grease a lidded pullman loaf tin (I use vegetable oil and a kitchen brush to do this).
- Transfer the dough from the bowl to the tin. This is best done with wet hands and dough scraper. Distribute evenly.
- Sprinkle a little rye flour on top, then place the lid on the tin.
- Place the tin in the fridge overnight.
Day 3 – Bake
- Take the tin out of the fridge and preheat the oven to 240°C.
- The dough should have risen considerably – if the dough half-filled the tin on day 2, it should now be close to the top.
- Bake at 240°C for 10 minutes, then turn the heat down to 220°C and bake for another 45 minutes or so. If in any doubt, give it a little longer in the oven – rye loaves hold a lot of water.
- Cool on a wire rack.
- Once completely cooled, wrap in cling film and leave to rest for a day. The flavour of the loaf will develop further in that time and the crumb will improve.
Dan Lepard’s Sour 100% Rye Bread
Another one of my all-time favourites, this 100% rye bread recipe uses a rye sourdough starter, fine rye flour and a clever gelatinised rye mix (made by mixing boiling water and rye flour) to aid the elasticity of the crumb. It’s a recipe from the book The Handmade Loaf: The Best European and Artisan Recipes for Homemade Bread
Dan Lepard’s 100% Rye Bread Recipe
Day 1 – Prepare Gelatinised Rye Mix & Sourdough
- In a large bowl, combine 50g cold water with 200g rye sourdough (the rest goes back into the fridge for your next bake). Whisk together.
- Add all but 2 tbsp of the gelatinised rye mix into the bowl and whisk in.
- Add 300g fine white rye flour, 7g salt and a tbsp of rapeseed oil and mix well. I use a silicone spatula to do this and avoid getting stuck in with my hands – it’s a soft sticky dough.
- Prepare a loaf tin (the one I use is 15.2 x 10.2 x 12.7 cm), spread a tbsp of caraway or coriander seeds at the bottom, then – with wet hands – take the dough and put it into the tin. Even out the top and spread the gelatinised rye mix over the top.
- Cover with a polythene bag and put into the fridge for 16 – 24 hours.
- Take out the loaf tin from the fridge, the dough will have almost doubled in size.
- Preheat the oven to 220°C.
- Bake for 50 minutes.
- Leave to cool on a wire rack.
- Once cold, wrap in kitchen baking parchment, tie well with string and leave for a day before slicing.
The bread tastes great with smoked fish, smoked meats with horseradish or root vegetable soups.
Dan Lepard Pure Rye Flour Bread
German-Style Pure 100% Rye Bread Recipe
I bake this 100% rye bread recipe almost every week. It uses an old bread soaker which is popular in German sourdough bread baking.
Day 1 morning – Prepare Sourdough
- 10g sourdough starter
- 140g fine rye flour
- 110g water
- Combine ingredients in a bowl, cover and keep at room temperature for 16 – 24 hours.
Day 2 morning – Enhance Sourdough
- 260g sourdough from the day before
- 200g fine rye flour
- 160g water
- Combine ingredients in a bowl, cover and keep at room temperature for 3 hours.
Day 2 morning – Prepare Old Bread Soaker
- 50g old stale bread (preferably dark sourdough bread)
- 100g water
- Soak old bread in a small bowl for 3 hours, then puree with a stick blender.
- This is a technique commonly used in German-style bread baking and adds great flavour.
Day 2 afternoon – Prepare Main Dough
- 610g sourdough (as prepared in the above steps, the remaining 10g of sourdough go back into the fridge for your next bake)
- 325g dark rye flour
- 250g fine rye flour
- 150g pureed bread soaker (as per the above)
- 400g water
- 16g salt
- 2 tbsp fennel or coriander seeds (optional)
- Combine the ingredients and mix well.
- Place the dough in a bowl, cover and keep at room temperature for approx. 30 minutes.
- Butter a large heavy-duty loaf tin (I used a Pullman loaf tin, 33 cm long, 10 cm wide) and sprinkle some crushed fennel or coriander seeds onto the bottom of the pan (these will infuse the bread during baking).
- Move the dough from the bowl into the loaf tin and distribute it evenly (best done with wet hands).
- Cover the loaf tin with a lid if you are using the Pullman loaf tin. If you don’t have a lid for the loaf tin, place the tin into a polythene plastic bag. Covering it is important to prevent the dough from drying out during the final proof.
- Place the covered loaf tin in the fridge overnight – approximately 10 to 12 hours.
- Take the loaf tin out of the fridge. The dough should have visibly risen.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C.
- Once the oven is preheated, bake for 65 minutes. If you are using a Pullman loaf tin, leave the lid on during the bake. If you are not using a Pullman loaf tin, you can bake the bread without a lid. Leaving the lid on will keep the bread moister but you will be able to achieve great results without the lid as well.
- If using a lidded loaf tin, take the lid off for the last 10 minutes of the baking time, to help brown the top crust.
- Cool on a wire rack.
Traditional German 100% Rye Pumpernickel
Finally, taking pure 100% rye bread recipes and baking one step further, try my traditional German pumpernickel recipe, using rye grains and cracked rye instead of flour.
Finnish cuisine is not the most popular one but is filled with nordic and arctic flavors and simple dishes that you would absolutely love. Just think about the delicious blueberry pie from freshly picked berries or a smoked salmon with oven-baked veggies and boiled potatoes. And let’s not forget about all the other forest berries, fish, and reindeer dishes you must try when visiting Finland – besides enjoying the sauna or watching the northern lights in winter and experiencing the midnight sun in summer. Time to go back to the tasty and traditional Finnish dishes!
Table of Contents
The Best Traditional Finnish Foods
Here is a short list of our favorite traditional foods from Finland that we love.
- Blueberry pie
- Finnish squeaky cheese – Bread cheese leipäjuusto
- Finnish rye bread
- Finnish flat bread from potatoes: Perunarieska
- Finnish salmon soup: lohikeitto
- Karelian pasties: karjalanpiirakka
- Sautéed reindeer: poronkäristys
- Smoked salmon: loimulohi
- Runeberg tart: Runebergintorttu
- Mämmi (Finnish Easter Dessert)
- Salty licorice
Traditional Blueberry Pie
Warm, crusty bottom, fresh cream, and delicious berries on top. You can make them with freshly picked berries in the late summer, or with frozen berries as well during the rest of the year. This is the traditional Finnish blueberry pie (you can find the recipe here) which is easy to prepare and everyone will love it. Seriously!
Squeaky cheese from Finland
Squeaky cheese or bread cheese (as it is called ‘leipäjuusto’ in Finnish) is another popular traditional Finnish dessert. It is usually topped with ‘lakkahillo’ which is the jam made of the rare but tasty arctic cloudberries.
Finnish rye bread
A bread that you just simply fall in love with. Finnish rye bread (in Finnish: Ruisleipä or hapanleipä) is a dark and sour bread that is widely popular in Finland. Compared to other, internationally known versions, for example, the German one, the Finnish rye-breads are rather hard, not too moist, and not so oily either.
Finnish Flat Bread from Potatoes
Finnish flat bread (rieska in Finnish) is traditionally made with oat, barley, or potato. Perunarieska is the version from potatoes and in our family the most popular Finnish flatbread version.
The traditional Finnish salmon soup (lohikeitto in Finnish) is a simple yet delicious warm meal that is prepared often. Finnish salmon soup is made with fresh salmon, potatoes, and carrots boiled in a light broth.
Karjalanpiirakka
Karelian pastry or Karelian pie (karjalanpiirakka in Finnish) is a traditional Finnish dessert from the eastern region of the country that gained popularity across the whole country.
The oldest traditional pasties usually had a rye crust, but the North Karelian variant improved the consistency by adding wheat. The common fillings were barley and talkkuna, later potato and buckwheat. Nowadays the rice version is the most popular.
Finnish Sautéed Reindeer – Poronkäristys
Sautéed reindeer (Finnish: poronkäristys) is one of the best known traditional meals from Lapland that is not only popular in Finland, but also in other countries of Lapland: Sweden, Norway, and Russia. It usually means a steak or the back of the reindeer, sliced thinly, fried in fat (traditionally in reindeer fat, but butter and oil are more common nowadays), spiced with black pepper and salt. Water, cream, and occasionally beer are added to prepare the delicious meal and it is cooked until it gets tender. The reindeer dish is served with mashed potatoes and lingonberry jam.
Finnish Smoked Salmon
A traditional Finnish fish dish is smoked salmon. Traditionally, loimulohi, is prepared next to the fire on wooden planks (see the photos above). Besides salmon, trout are often treated in a similar way to preserve the fish for later.
It is an ideal meal for those who like the outdoors, but of course, you can bake smoked salmon in the oven as well. We wrote more about traditional Finnish dishes here.
The Runeberg cake (Runeberginktorttu in Finnish) is a cylindrical pastry flavored with almond and arrack punch or rum. It is usually topped with raspberry jam surrounded by a sugar icing ring. There is a big ongoing debate about the best filling of Runeberg tart, almonds or jam? We prefer the latter one.
Traditional Finnish Easter Dessert
Mämmi, a traditional Easter dessert from Finland, is originally made of water, rye flour, and powdered malted rye, seasoned salt, and dried powdered orange zest. Traditional mämmi has an aromatic and sweet flavor, consisting of just 2% sugar or less, whereas commercially produced mämmi can contain as much as 20% sugar and therefore is much different in flavor, but as a foreigner who didn’t grow up eating it yearly, I find it still an extremely salty and weird (nor offense, sorry 🙂 ).
You can top it with sugar, vanillin sauce, or milk to make it tastier. We wrote about how to prepare it HERE.
Salty licorice
There is no Finnish food list without this gem: Salmiakki. Salmiakki is the name of Finnish salty licorice, that you either love or hate. Personally, I am in the group of the latter one, and I could compare the taste of to mämmi, but many adore it.
Besides the salmiakki candies, there are a huge variety of products flavored with salty licorice, I found them actually nice, as the taste is not so strong. You can buy ice creams, puddings, or chocolates with salmiakki flavor, but don’t forget about salmiakki liquor or vodka.
If you visit Finland, don’t forget to try something salmiakki, and let us know how you liked it!
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