Finland is a land of seasonal delicacies. Traditional cooking has been closely linked to religious holidays and the season at hand. However, one month is above them all. In February we feast with many kinds of sweet pastries!

February kicks off with the day of Runeberg (1804-1877), the national poet of Finland. The day is celebrated with sweet tarts, called Runebergs torte or Runebergin Torttu in Finnish. They are served pretty much everywhere and eaten as a dessert after a meal, or with a cup of coffee as a snack.

This tart has a muffiny feel to it, but because the ingredients are pretty dry, the tarts are soaked in either arrack or rum what makes them pretty moist. Other ingredients are e.g. crushed almonds and cookie crumbles. The whole thing is topped with a dash of raspberry jam and sugar frosting rim.

Legends tell, that Mrs. Runeberg invented the recipe from the ingredients she had laying around. Apparently the poet husband had quite a sweet tooth and he eat one tart every day for breakfast – washing it down with a nice glass of punch.

Dream filled with cream

As soon as the Runebergs tortes have been stored as healthy body fat, the next sweet holiday is upon us Finns! Laskiainen is the same thing as Shrove Tuesday or Pancake day and it marks the start of the spring lent. Of course you have to stack up some weight before, and what would be a better choice than a sweet bun filled with whipped cream and sugar?

The concept is pretty popular in northern Europe, but in Finland the delicacy is called Laskiaispulla, or the Shrove Tuesday bun. It originates from Sweden, where they call it the “semla”.

You start out by backing a batch of cardamom seasoned buns, the bigger the better. Then you slice the bun and carve out some of the inside to make room for the stuffing.

The stuffing is traditionally marzipan, but nowadays people might also use berry jam instead. Smear some stuffing to the bottom half of the bun and top it off with a lot of whipped cream.Then place the top part of the bun on the top of the cream mountain and there you have it – the Laskiaispulla!

Enjoy the Laskiaispulla with a cup of coffee or even hot chocolate. Don’t mind if you aren’t going to fast on your spring lent, you have still deserved every single Laskiaispulla you eat!

You may not know this, but Finland has a very interesting diversity of local dishes. Its forests and lakes are hiding real treasures: berries, mushrooms and fish, to name a few. Each region has its own specialties. We have picked up some of our favourites for you.

Here are 5 dishes you need to taste when visiting Finland.

Karelian pies (Karjalanpiirakat in Finnish): As its name says, this small pie is originally from Southern East of Finland: Karelia. You can eat them during many occasions: as a breakfast or snack, or quite often during festive dinners served with egg butter.

There are many ways to prepare these pastries: the garniture can be either rice porridge or mashed potatoes. Different sizes and shapes can tell where the pies have been made.

You can find Karelian pies all around Finland, even in the supermarkets. But of course nothing is better than homemade ones! 

Smoked whitefish (Savustettu siika in Finnish):  Fish is a major ingredient in the Finnish cuisine. The large amount of lakes and rivers provide interesting opportunities to catch your own dinner and prepare it on open fire.

There is one dish Finns particularly love to prepare when spending time in their summer cottages: the smoked whitefish.

Kuva, jonka Gofinland.fi (@gofinland.fi) julkaisi 15. 01ta 2016 klo 3.20 PST

Whitefishes can be caught in lakes, rivers and the Baltic Sea. Here are some hints to help you to prepare your smoked whitefish:

You can either use an electric smoker or a more traditional one using fire.

The main ingredients are sea salt to be spread inside the fish once cleaned (don’t put too much but equally), 3 or 4 small pieces of sugar to give a nice brownish colour to the fish and alder chips.

At the bottom of the smoker, spread equally the alder chips and add the sugar cubes on top.  Then add the fishes above the alder bed on a grill inside the smoker and close it.

The fire should be slowly and nicely burning under the smoker. The cooking time depends on the fish size but count for around 45 minutes for 1 kg.

During the cooking, you can check if the fish is ready by trying to remove a small piece of skin or the dorsal fin and see if it separates easily from the meat. Bon appétit!

Sautéed reindeer (Poronkäristys in Finnish):  Reindeers are more numerous than men in Lapland. Reindeer meat is thus a very common ingredient in the Northern Finland and you can find it in many variations: smoked, dried, minced, in the soup, and so on.

The sautéed reindeer is a traditional dish you can eat at all seasons and you can find it in many restaurants. Tenderly cooked and thinly sliced reindeer meat is served with mashed potatoes, pickles, and lingonberries.

Rieska bread (Rieska in Finnish): Finns are really found of all sorts of breads to complement their meals. The one you should try when staying in Finland is called rieska.

 The most common ones you will easily find are potato rieska (perunarieska), barley rieska (ohrarieska) and rye rieska (ruisrieska). Finns eat this bread mostly with just butter on. However, rieska is an ideal bread to prepare sandwiches for a day hike and to be enjoyed outdoors around a campfire with hot drinks.

And last, but not least:

Bread cheese (Juustoleipä in Finnish): Here is a typical dessert from Northern Finland. Made out of cow milk, the bread cheese has a very unique texture.  In the old days, bread cheese was so appreciated that is was given as a salary to people working in the fields during summer harvest.

The bread cheese is very easy to prepare yourself if you stay in a cottage. Available in every local supermarket, you just cut it into small slices and gently warm it up on a pan with cream. When ready, serve it with cloudberries. The cloudberries (called lakka or hilla in Finnish) are one of the tastiest, vitamins-packed berries you can find in Lappish swamps.  The result gives a great sweet and acid combination, and it goes really well with coffee.

A must try for all dessert fans!

Have you ever tried any of these Finnish dishes? If not, which one would you like to taste first? Post your choice in the comments field below.