Fermented Delicacy · Rakfisk
Rakfisk
Photo: Unknown / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
The fish ferments in a light salt brine for two to three months or longer before it's ready, and the earliest written reference to rakfisk dates from 1348.
Trout or char is packed in a mild salt brine and left to ferment for months at near-freezing temperatures until it develops a soft, jelly-like texture and pungent aroma. It's eaten raw, thinly sliced, on flatbread with sour cream, onion, and potatoes at Valdres' markets and its dedicated autumn festival.
Why it's made this way: Inland communities like Valdres had plenty of freshwater trout but limited access to the sea salt coastal Norwegians used for drying fish, so a careful, slow brine-fermentation became their preservation method instead.
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