Mämmi

At Eastertime Finns like to eat mämmi, which is a dish quite unlike anything else I have ever tried. Mämmi is made of Barley malt and rye malt, mixed with syrup and rye flour to sweeten and thicken it. It's pretty much like eating the raw ingedients for Guinness and Jameson at the same time, and the smell and texture reminds me very much of the Caxton home brew kits, beloved of our father. It's a bit of an acquired taste, but goes very nicely with cream and sugar, as a second course. Our youngest tried it and declared a passion for it. Does this mean she'll be into Guinness at the age of twelve? I hope not. Traditionally Mämmi is served from a container made of birch bark, but nowadays it's cardboard with the bark painted on.