Here are a few Finnish food items of interest.
We've been buying the same Valio Oltermanni cheese that we used to eat in Moscow, and it is divine. But the other day, Jeremy bought some Valio brand cheddar and it is...well. In a blind taste test, I'm not sure that I would be able to tell it apart from Tillamook Sharp Cheddar. It's not just the taste, and not just the texture, but both - it gets both of those right. We are hiding the cheddar from the kids (it costs 1€ more per block) and savoring each slice. It is so good.
Finland is big on rye bread, as you may have heard. Like almost-black, rough rye bread. I find that I really prefer it - it makes for a much "meatier" bread that sticks with you longer and has a distinct taste in and of itself, rather than just being a blank slate for other toppings. With rye bread, the bread is actually a flavor element of the sandwich. Our favorite rye bread is a special kind called Saaristolaisnappi - Archipelago...buttons? It's little circles of saaristolais bread. Someone told us it's different from regular rye bread because it also has malt in it. Whatever it is, it's delicious.
For kids' snacks, we've been enjoying torpparin leipä. They're gingerbread-ish cookies, but not too sweet and heartier than a flat cookie. They really are like little breads (leipä means bread).
Jeremy is mad for Kuningatarhillo - Queen's Jam. It's blueberry/raspberry jam. Our Finnish friend brought us some (homemade) and now he's a convert. I have only ever seen him eat his mom's homemade raspberry jam (the best there is!), so to see him eat something else means it must be really good!
Until very recently - the season just ended - we were gorging ourselves on farm-fresh herne - peas. You can get them at the store, too, but they always tasted better when you bought them from the open-air vendors at the Kauppatori (market square). I'm sad to see them go, but now I know what to look forward to next summer!
Since we moved here, we have cut down dramatically on our sweets intake. This is a good thing. But for the past two Fridays, I've bought a bag of - for lack of a better word - licorice allsorts (a variety of crunchy and gummy candies with fruit and licorice flavors). I have never ever bought these in the US, but here, there are a million varieties and they take up the bulk of the candy aisle. It all started when two weeks ago, we went to a church activity and they put out a bowl of allsorts and they were so tasty! Partly it was because we hadn't had candy in so long, but partly it was because they were legit good. So the girls and I have been on the hunt for that particular brand/selection of allsorts. So far, we've tried twice and struck out twice. The kinds we ended up with were good, but not as good as what we had at the church activity.
These allsorts packs often include a lot of black licorice, even the salted kind (salmiakki). One of my favorite candies in the US is Good & Plenty, so I do like black licorice, but salmiakki takes it up a notch...or five. You can't eat more than a few pieces in a sitting. It's so intense. I can only imagine what someone who already doesn't like black licorice would think.
I think we'll continue our weekly quest for the holy grail of allsorts. I'll let you know if we ever find The One.
