Danish Summer Eats

I haven't written that much about Danish food. I guess that's because I'm still not entirely sure how to define Danish food. Yes, there are traditional dishes like meatballs, pickled herring, and open-faced sandwiches on rye bread, but other than the sandwiches, I'm not sure how often people actually eat these things. Even if you go to a "Danish" restaurant, the food is tends to be oriented more towards ingredients and seasonality than traditional Danish foods.

When people ask me if I eat or cook Danish food, I say sort of. I've really enjoyed being a member of KBHFF and eating Danish produce. To a certain extent, I feel like I've been eating Danish food through my weekly bags because the produce we've gotten (for example, a kilo of potatoes almost every week, a huge bunch of dill this week) fits with what Danes like to eat.

Right now there are a few foods in season which are everywhere and clearly important to Danish culture: strawberries, shelling peas, and new potatoes. I've gotten these in my KBHFF bag, they are available at farm stands set up around the city, and in grocery stores. It is always made clear that these are Danish products too. The sign will say "Danish Strawberries" or "Danish Peas." One thing that has really amazed me is that even in the grocery store, they sell the new potatoes with dirt still on them. I can't imagine that ever happening in the US. Still, there's good reason because the skin is so delicate that they need to be cleaned by hand right before you eat them. The strawberries are also sold really ripe. There are times when I'm biking by a place selling strawberries outside and I can smell them.

Another Danish summer food is koldskål. It's a simple but somewhat unusual dessert that has really grown on me. You take a special kind of cookie, it kind of like a really crunchy Nilla Wafer, put them in a bowl, and then pour this thin custard overtop. The custard is usually lightly sweetened buttermilk with some egg and often has a vanilla or lemon flavor. Then you eat the cookies and the custard together.