Mämmi: The traditional Finnish Easter dessert
Before going to Salo on their Easter holidays, my Finnish friends recommended me to do two things this Easter. The first one is that I should try some chocolate easter eggs, Kinder or Fazer Mignon, and the second one is that I must try mämmi, the traditional Finnish Easter dessert, with some cream (kerma).
Table of Contents
What is Mämmi
Mämmi looks like a puddnig, and it is served as a dessert during Easter in Finland. It is made from water, rye flour, powdered malt, dark molasses, salt and orange zest. To serve and eat it, it is mixed with kerma or milk and this is how it looks:
This is what mämmi looks like. Appetizing, right? Source (CC:by)
Finns are eager to let anybody try their dessert these days, and some other friends were urged to give it a try. A friend of mine got some mämmi from friends, and after she tried it she gave it to me and added the words “good luck”. So I gave it a try as well.
The mämmi I was about to eat
Mämmi’s flavor
Mämmi’s texture is strange and granular. Its looks weren’t particularly attractive (it is not a food that you eat with your eyes as well). The flavor of mämmi isn’t great, but it isn’t terrible either: it tastes like dark bread, something they do like in Finland. Think of a dense dark bread, beaten.
If you’re looking for a recipe to do this kind of traditional Finnish Easter dessert, you can use this one and maybe you can give it your own spin to make it suit your taste better – since the original one may be too Finnish to be enjoyed by everybody.
Would I have mämmi ever again? Good question. I think if someone would offer it to me at a dinner table I wouldn’t refuse it. I think that it is, as other Finnish foods like the salty liquorice salmiakki, an acquired taste.
It won’t be the children’s favorite dessert, but if you like the flavor of dark bread I would definitely recommend you to try it. Update: here’s a video of Chef Gordon Ramsay tasting it and giving his professional opinion.
Have you tasted mämmi? What did you think about its flavor and texture? Granted, the presentation could be much, much better.
Topics: Finnish food |
7 comments
| 
Print This Post
ok…. as a finn i have tasted mämmi and i must say that at first i didn’t like it so much… i used to add some sugar and cream on top of it and today i only use cream…. but anyway if you want to taste it again as a home made version in finland, i would be more than happy to invite you to try it again because most of the mämmi here is bought as ready-to-be-served dish it’s not good to give it any stars yet… you must try the home made version first… otherwise you will regret your desicion rest of your life…. and the best way to be introduced to finnish food (or any other country’s food) is to visit someone’s grandmom 😀
I have tasted it and loved it. I bought the organic one with no sugar ” I feel proud about that, lol”.
If you are American, you may know what Grape-nuts cereal tastes like. I find the taste mämmi to be something like grape-nuts with hints of prune-like flavors. I like it very much.
I just had this for Easter at our Finnish friends’ house. I just put the whipping cream on it but not any sugar. I love it! ❤️ It reminds me of Raisin Bran when you let it soak in half and half. Mmm! Makes me want to go get a bowl of Raisin Bran right now… I would definitely eat this again! I might even try to make it.
I found it interesting.
Being half Finnish, I finally tried Mammi well into my adulthood. My Mom gave it to me to try this past Easter and I put whipped cream on it. It was interesting tasting and the next day I found myself craving more. Now I wish we would’ve purchased two at the Easter Finnish Bake Sale! It is not the “prettiest” looking but when you get past the looks, it is delicious and I can understand that it is an acquired taste. The older I get, the more I am appreciating and loving all the Finnish foods I grew up watching my Mother eat.
We left Finland to come to Canada 55 years ago and one of the last memories I have is eating freshly made mammi with kerma, no sugar. I loved it. This morning I had some dark pumpernickel bread and was reminded of the taste of mammi all those years ago. Thanks for the recipe! I must learn how to make it myself since no one has ever been come to the rescue after all these years!