Kæstur hákarl - fermented ice shark

"Kæstur hákarl", simply called "hákarl" for short (and pronounced "Howkartl"), translates roughly as "rotten shark" and is fermented shark meat from the Arctic or Greenland shark (which is the same thing).

This shark is on average 4 to 5 meters long and weighs around 400 kg, although animals over 7 meters long and weighing a good 1,400 kg have also been found. The shark species is one of the longest-lived vertebrates on earth; the animals can live over 200 years. As far as is known, as hunters they feed primarily on fish and seals, both at great and relatively shallow sea depths. Incidentally, there are no known attacks on people.

The sharks have no kidneys and therefore accumulate urea in their blood, which they need to balance the osmotic pressure of seawater. Fresh ice shark is therefore poisonous to humans and must therefore be fermented before consumption:

The caught shark is killed, then gutted, washed and cleaned and deboned. The shark meat is then buried in a pit with gravel, weighed down with heavy stones and then left to rot for 6 to 12 weeks, depending on the weather. Finally, the shark meat is hung in an open drying hut for about two to four months so that the ammonia released during rotting can evaporate. The crust is then removed and the white meat is served in small, bite-sized pieces.

It has a consistency like bacon, tastes a lot of getting used to and smells phenomenal. Eating Hákarl for the first time in your life is an elementary experience both in terms of smell and taste and the purest “taste explosion” with the first real bite - and for many people it remains a unique experience.

Brennivin, a typical Icelandic liquor, is usually served with it, probably to make the Hákarl more bearable or to mask the smell.

The fish meat is also often used in dried form as dog food.

There are reports that consumption of insufficiently rotted shark has caused the metabolic disease trimethylaminuria, the so-called “fish odor disease,” in humans. The disease actually exists; in affected patients, the sweat and urine smell blatantly like “old fish” because the excreted body fluids contain extremely high amounts of trimethylamine, and you stink practically from every pore. With medication and diet, the smell can at least be reduced so that a certain level of participation in social life is still possible. To what extent this disease is caused by a gene mutation in the liver or whether eating shark meat containing ammonia can actually lead to this disease - I don't know.

We really hope to be able to visit the Bjarnarhöfn Shark Museum in Snæfellsnes National Park this summer with the drying racks for the shark meat!

[Translated from here.]