What you should know about Finnish Easter desserts

On Sunday most of the Finns will end their Easter meals with a sweet touch. Some will eat mämmi, a kind of pudding made from flour and rye malt. And some lucky ones will receive a Fazer Mignon Egg, the second oldest product of the confectionary (1896). Every year, about 2 millions eggs are sold. Of course, other sweet are eaten such as the Orthodox Pasha and other chocolate eggs (e.g Kinder Surprise, Moomin or Angry Birds).

Mämmi

Photo: Flickr.com/Martin Terber

Let's be honest. Mämmi looks horrible. With its dark brown color and grainy texture, many people associate the appearence to cow shit. Finns themselves are sharply divided. You love it or you hate it. But don't give up at first sight! Here are a few tips for eating mämmi.



Tip 1: Never listen to a Finn who hates mämmi
He will tell you so many bad things about the dessert that you will not dare to taste it. Here are a couple of them: "it taste like shit," "if you eat it, you won't eat for a week," or "it's like having stones in your stomach."

Tip 2: Customize your mämmi
Mämmi is not a light dessert. It is very compact and with a single spoon, you feel full. The taste is pretty strong and many people give up very quickly. As it is made with rye floor, you feel full very fast. The best way to consume it, is to mix it with cream or milk and a bit of sugar. Some like it with vanilla sauce. It tastes slightly better and lighter!

Fazer Mignon Egg

Photo: Flickr.com/hfb

It is a very old dessert made by Fazer. Real eggs are washed and filled with fine nougat chocolate. The operations are made by hand as no machine is able to hold the shells without breaking them. They are sold in individual packages or by four in an egg box. They are quite expensive as they are handmade in Finland. This 52g egg contains 571 calories.

Tip 1: Put the egg to the fridge
This might sounds hilarious but it's not when it happens to you. If your egg is at room temperature, so is the chocolate inside. When you break the shell, hundreds of little pieces will stuck to the chocolate and you will spend a lot of time with tweezers.

Read also: Easter in Finland