Hej – and welcome to your weekly ScandiKitchen lesson.
This week, seeing as it is all about Fat Semla Buns and Fat Tuesday, we talk about that.
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It’s Fat Tuesday (Shrove Tuesday) this week (21st February)– one of the biggest days of the year as we get to eat cream buns (plural). Around six million semlor are sold on Fat Tuesday in Sweden alone. Plus the rest.
Why Fat Tuesday?
Well, some call it Mardi Gras, we call it Fat Tuesday. Same thing. It’s all about eating the good stuff for Lent. As we Scandies need permission to overdo things, this is as good time as any to eat 3 buns in a day.
speaking swedish?
How to say it
One semla, two semlor (semlan, semlorna). It’s Swedish because carnival buns in Danish and Norwegian are called Fastelavnsboller – and laskiaispulla in Finnish.
Bun intended
A semla is a yeast cardamom bun stuffed with marzipan and a ton of whipped cream. In Finland, just jam and cream. In Denmark, most often made with a layered pastry instead.
Illegal buns
Semlor are strictly seasonal. In Sweden, there used to be rules and a law governing when you could serve semlor buns (Swedes LOVE rules). Nowadays, it starts after New Year and you can find places (like our cafe) making them until Easter
How to eat a Semla
Basic: Lick the lid and scoop the cream, then eat bun. Confident: Eat lid first, stuff face, cream in nostril. Old fashioned: Add semla to bowl of hot milk; eat with spoon (it really is a thing).
Danger buns
A former king of Sweden died after eating too many semlor buns. King Adolf Fredrik decided to follow a banquet of lobster and champagne with 14 semlor in 1771. Cause of death: indigestion.
