Yesterday we surveyed the Inuit-rooted Greenlandic diet – based largely on fish and sea mammals – and asked ourselves if we were ready to try delicacies like Narwhal Blubber and Muskox Tartare. Today, we’ll look at Greenland’s European-sourced Breads, Sweets and Beverages…
Greenland Cake and Greenlandic Coffee: The country’s favourite dessert.
On our menu today
After touring the mains and snacks of Greenland yesterday, you might have guessed that the country’s national menu doesn’t contain a lot in the way of what we southerners call breads, sweets and non-water beverages. But they have absorbed a few such traditions from their European overlords during periods of Norse and Danish occupation starting more than 1,000 years ago.
Breads
Many familiar styles of bread are imported from Denmark to Greenland. But only a few have traditionally been made there. That’s largely because it’s nearly impossible to grow grain there. But as we’ll see in the section on beverages, below, they somehow manage to grow (or afford to import) barley for their beloved Ice Beer.
Chef’s Bread: This is the daily Bread of Greenland; a dense yeast-raised loaf based on straight whole wheat flour (no white flour added to lighten the texture), enriched with butter and sugar. (See photo, top of page.) Greenlanders eat it with everything.
Rugbrød: Danish Rye Bread. A favourite in Greenland’s urban centres, this import is a very dense loaf served thin-sliced, often as a base for open-faced sandwiches. It’s a Danish analogue of German Pumpernickel.
Rundstykker: Breakfast Rolls. Greenlanders actually eat these all day long for light lunches or snacks, topped with cold cuts, cheese or just about anything else that strikes their fancy. They’re simple yeast-raised buns based on white flour (bread flour works best), butter, milk, eggs and sugar. Rundstykker are traditionally decorated with a cross-cut on top and sprinkled with poppy seeds.
Sweets
As with breads, the indigenous Greenlandic cookbook contains little in the way of sweets and deserts. And those that have become institutionalized hail mainly from Danish tradition. But they have become key elements of Greenland’s life!
Kalaallit Kaagiat: This light-textured Sweet Bread is often called Greenlandic Cake. It’s a white-flour, yeast-raised loaf enriched with Sugar, Raisins, Butter and Cardamon, and it’s surprisingly similar (but no relation) to Panettone, the Italian Christmas Bread, but without the eggs. Kalaallit Kaagiat is traditionally dusted with powdered sugar.
Drømmekage: Danish Dream Cake. This one really is a cake, and a rich golden sponge, calling for 3 eggs, a full teaspoon of vanilla and 6 tablespoons of milk. But it’s the topping that really makes it special: shredded coconut in a glaze of brown sugar and butter.
Like Kalaallit Kaagiat, Drømmekage is also a special dessert, usually made at Christmas, but also served on other occasions the year round.
Apple Cobbler: With a special Greernlandic twist. Apples are one of only a few tree fruits grown on Greenland. They are often served in company with the island’s clasic Arctic Blueberries and Crowberries, and sometimes with less-plentiful Blackberries, Cowberries (see photo, under ‘Berries’, below), Bearberries or Juniper Berries. The traditional Apple and Berry Cobbler features the usual syrup-bathed filling and familiar crumbly, sugary crust.
Berries: As enumerated in the foregoing Cobbler recipe, Greenland’s many indigenous berries grow wild in most parts of the southern, inhabitable region of the country.
They’re harvested by most Greenland cooks in the fall and employed in desserts, compotes and preserves. They’re also used in sauces that traditionally accompany roasted meats.
Beverages
Greenlandic Coffee: Not ‘just coffee’! (See featured photo, top of post.) This beverage is more like an arctic version of Irish Coffee – with a shot of Whiskey, Kahlúa or Grand Marnier – and topped with Whipped Cream. It is far and away the most popular drink in Greenland.
Ice Beer: Yes, they do brew beer in Greenland. It’s a specialty called Ice beer, made with medium-roasted barley malt and water from ice harvested from 2,000-year-old Glaciers.
Beer in general is a ubiquitous beverage across Greenland, and many folks make their own at home.
Whiskey: Greenlanders love their whiskey, too. In fact, they have placed their stamp on more than one brand of Scotch. Polar Explorer is distilled in Scotland, almost entirely for export to Greenland, from with un-peated barley, and aged for 12 years in Oloroso Sherry casks. It’s described on the label as ‘diluted to 50% ABV with water from Scotland and melted ice from a Greenland glacier’. Isfjord Single Malt is a favourite premium spirit made with water from arctic icebergs and distilled in Denmark.
So, now you know…
They really do have a distinct, colourful culture in Greenland, the product of a marriage between three northern ways of life – Norse, Danish and Inuit – that’s simmered and fermented for more than 1,000 years into a rich, unique concoction. If you someday find yourself visiting Greenland, rest assured: you’ll be in for a true culinary expedition!
~ Maggie J.