Mämmi

Some of you may have wondered what the name of my blog means. Mämmi is a traditional sweet rye pudding that's today known mostly as an Easter dessert. The sweet dish nowadays known as mämmi was originally eaten only in the Southwest whereas elsewhere in Finland a runnier sweet-and-sour dish also known in Eastern Europe was prepared.

One of my many plans is to tell you more ways to use mämmi all around the year. In the meanwhile go and find a book called Mämmi-kirja by Ahmed Ladarsi, the founder of The Finnish Mämmi Association. I'm sure I will. It's got 80 different recipes that use mämmi as a main ingredient.

For starters you need some mämmi. The recipes differ greatly, so I just followed the one that seemed most convincing (which in my case means taking the longest time to let it sweeten naturally). Now I've got four casseroles full of it and they won't all fit into my freezer. At some point I may have to try if this can be done as a smaller dose.

5 l water
1 kg rye malts
1.5 kg rye flour
0.5 tsp salt

If you wish:
2 tbsp powdered bitter orange rind (Of course this isn't an original spice but it is commonly added. Funny thing is that I've never seen any other recipe even mention the whole fruit.)

Heat 2 l water to a boil and pour it into a 10 l bucket. Add half of the malts and one fifth of the flour. Whisk well. Sprinkle a thick layer of flour on the surface. Cover the bucket tightly and leave it to sweeten for about two hours hours in a warm place.

Pour another round of hot water into the bucket. Add the rest of the malts and some flour. Whisk, sprinkle and cover as you did last time. Keep adding water and flour every two hours until they're finished. (I for example made four rounds.)

After the last sweetening whisk the mixture cool. Add the salt and the bitter orange at this point. Fill casseroles (or tuokkonens if you're happy enough to have some) half full but be careful not o overfill since mämmi may flood. Put them into a 150°C oven for three hours. Stir occasionally to prevent a hard crust from forming.

Conserve in cold. Mämmi is at its best after couple of days. The classic way is to serve it in a tuokkonen, a box made of birch park. Even commercial mämmis often have a birch print on their carton boxes. Try sugar and oat milk, whipped oat cream, vanilla sauce or ice cream with it.

Besides on its own, mämmi can be used in many, many ways in desserts, breads, beverages, sauces and even main courses. Anywhere you wish to have its smooth and sweet but malty flavour. We'll get back to that.

Nutritional values / 7500 g (counted from the ingedients, also check Fineli):
energy: 8365 kcal
fat: 52 g
protein: 263 g
carbohydrates: 1685 g
fiber: 368 g