þurrkaðir ávextir

Dried fruit in Icelandic cuisine

I only really became aware of it last weekend when I made Rúgbrauðsís með rabarbarasósu, i.e. rye bread ice cream with rhubarb sauce, and my sister enthusiastically spooned it up and suddenly raised her head and asked "There are dried plums in there, right?!?" - that's when I really realized what an essential part of Icelandic cuisine dried fruit is.

Of course, not much fruit grows in Iceland, and what is imported always has to be preserved for a long time in advance, so at second glance it is actually not surprising that Icelandic cuisine contains so many recipes with dried plums, dried apricots, lots of them dried dates etc. includes.

One of the oldest recipes from Iceland, which is already known from late medieval sources, is Lúðusúpa, or halibut soup, which has a wonderfully soft, velvety taste thanks to the cream, the prunes and the (also imported) honey in it.

Another, somewhat more modern, but also typically Icelandic dish is the rye bread ice cream mentioned above, the Rúgbrauðsís með rjóma og rabarbarasósu .

The Icelandic Rúgbrauð is made into a very tasty dessert with milk, egg yolk, sugar, cream cheese and, among other things, dried plums - if it's not available, you can also use pumpernickel to prepare it, which also works well here.

Another very typical Icelandic dish is of course Vínarterta, which is the "Original Icelandic Christmas Cake" especially for many second and third generation Icelandic exiles in Canada and the USA, and one fondly remembers how everyone's Icelandic grandmother made this pastry Made for Christmas every year using her very special family recipe.

Here you boil the pitted dried plums with water, cardamom and a little lemon juice and then spread them on the individual bases of the cake.

A nice pastry for Christmas is also an Aðventukringla, an "Advent wreath" with dried plums, dried apricots and raisins.

And dried apricots are also used in the vegan alternative to meatballs, nut balls with mushroom sauce ("hneturbollur með sveppasósa ").

Dates ("döðlur") in particular have become very popular in Icelandic cuisine over the last 60 years:

From Döðlubrauð (date bread) to salmon with dates and Hafragrautur (porridge) to Lakkrístrufflur (licorice truffles) and Rifsberjabaka (currant crumble), Frosin ávaxtakaka (frozen fruit cake) and Dessert kökur (dessert cake) you can find dried dates in many different dishes. And there is also a version of the "Happy Marriage", a very typically Icelandic cake ("hjónabandssæla "), with date paste - made from dried dates, of course.

Date bread

Salmon with dates - steiktur lax með sólþurrkuðum döðlum og tómötum

Liquorice truffles

Rifsberjabaka

Frozen fruit cake

Dessert cake

"Married Bliss"

I think I'll definitely have to look for recipes with dried fruit in the near future!!!

[Translated from here.]