Holiday Ayo - Surströmming or fish Sour herring has a sharp, pungent odor of rot. Like durians, fans of sour herring tend to love the smell of this dish. While the tourists or newcomers will be surprised to kiss it.

The fish dish dubbed as the smelliest food in the world is traditional culinary Sweden. Due to its uniqueness, this dish has become quite popular, especially among connoisseurs extreme food. Reported by the Swedish government's official website, people eat this dish because they really enjoy the taste, not as a 'challenge'.

source: Wikipedia

This dish is made from small Baltic herring . The fish is caught in spring, salted and then fermented for quite a long time. The end of the year, around August or September, is the time to catch herring , and the perfect time to eat this dish.

Herring fermented for at least a month, causing the top and bottom of the can to swell, as well as great pressure. To open a can of sour fish, it must be under water so it doesn't spill.

To enjoy surströmming you need to wash first. When serving, sour herring is best eaten indoors. The pungent odor tends to attract flies. Traditionally, most of the surströmming producers can be found along Sweden's north coast.

Interestingly, even though it has a pungent odor, herring which is properly fermented has a distinctive spicy and savory taste. The traditional way of eating this dish is as a filling in a 'thinbread' or klämma sandwich .

source: Encyclopedia Britannica

Bread spread with butter with the addition of herring , sliced potatoes, and onions. The saltiness of the potatoes and onions will complement the sour herring. In addition, there are also those who smear the thin bread with whey cheese from goat's milk or butter, then mixed with sour herring.

This method of making sour herring is a fermentation method used in Northern Europe and Asia to preserve fish.

In the past, herring dishes were the daily food of farmers as well as provisions for shepherds . But now this dish has become a culinary heritage of the world and is special food unique from Sweden.