Slaughter-Season Tradition · Blood Pudding

Slátur (Blóðmör)

Photo: Navaro / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

It's stitched into the sheep's own stomach lining before boiling — a natural casing that's part of the same nose-to-tail slaughter it comes from.

Sheep's blood is mixed with suet, oatmeal or rye flour, and seasoning, then stuffed into a sewn pouch of sheep's stomach and simmered until firm, similar to a dense blood sausage. It's traditionally made each autumn during réttir, the sheep round-up and slaughter season across South Iceland's farming valleys.

Why it's made this way: Slátur-making ties directly to South Iceland's autumn sheep round-up, when farms slaughter animals for winter and use every part of the carcass rather than let blood and offal go to waste.