Traditional Finnish recipes are simple, hearty, and should definitely make their way into your cooking repertoire! Finnish food focuses on the natural flavors of seasonal ingredients like wild berries, fresh fish, wild game, and forest mushrooms.
Contrary to popular belief, Finland is not a Scandinavian country. It is not located on the Scandinavian peninsula along with Sweden and Norway, and the Finnish language stems from the Uralic family rather than the Northern Germanic or Scandinavian family. Instead, Finland is considered to be a Nordic country and shares similar cultural values. Sandwiched between Sweden and Russia, Finnish food reflects both eastern and western cultures due to its long shared history. Blinis, a Russian wheat pancake, and pickles are popular, as well as the concept of the Swedish smorgasbord, where hot and cold dishes are served buffet-style.
Finland’s landscape is over 85% forest and has over 188,000 lakes, which provide wild berries, fresh fish, wild game, and forest mushrooms. In the summertime, there are over 20 edible types of berries, including strawberries, bilberries, raspberries, lingonberries, cranberries, cloudberries, and sea buckthorn and arctic brambleberries. Mushrooms begin growing in the spring, starting with morels, and then moving to chanterelles and ceps later in the summer. Salmon, herring, whitefish, perch, and trout are available year-round in rivers and lakes and can be smoked, salted, pickled. Salmon gravlax is a popular dish that is cured using salt, sugar, and dill. You’ll find that dill is one of the most common herbs used throughout the cuisine, such as in soups, sauces, and on fish. Hunted game like Reindeer, elk, and ptarmigan are used in stews and meat pies, accompanied by bread made from wholemeal grains like rye, barley, and oats. Cardamom is incorporated into bread and desserts such as Pulla. All of these natural and seasonal ingredients are the foundation for Finnish cuisine.
Try and make some Finnish recipes below!
Finnish blueberry pie is a cross between a cake and a cheesecake — and it’s delicious! All the fresh blueberries give this dessert a light, refreshing taste and will leave your whole house smelling amazing. In Finnish, this dish is known as mustikkapiirakka, where “mustikka” …
Lohikeitto is a one-pot Finnish salmon soup that is easy and takes 30 minutes to make. With winter being Finland’s longest season, it’s no wonder that this steaming hot soup is one of its most famous dishes. What is lohikeitto? Lohikeitto is a creamy soup …