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Ræst — Faroese Fermentation

Ræst

Specialised

The central Faroese technique and the reason this file exists. Meat or fish is hung UNSALTED in a HJALLUR, a slatted wooden shed open to the wind, through autumn and winter. The Faroese climate — steady 4-8°C, high humidity, constant salt-laden wind — allows a slow controlled microbial fermentation and partial drying rather than either rotting or simple drying. RÆST KJØT is fermented lamb; SKERPIKJØT is the same taken further, to a hard dry matured stage of five to nine months; RÆSTUR FISKUR is fermented fish, usually cod. ⚠ THIS IS A CLIMATE-DEPENDENT PROCESS. It cannot be reproduced elsewhere by hanging meat in a shed, and it is described here as ethnography and food science, not as a method.

Atlas — where and when

Communities and languages

Languages: Faroese

What is recorded

  • Ræsting is a controlled microbial fermentation of unsalted meat or fish in an open drying shed, made possible by a narrow combination of temperature, humidity and constant wind specific to the Faroe Islands. It is distinct from simple wind-drying and cannot be reproduced by hanging meat in another climate. Described as ethnography and food science, not as a method. documented

Related foodways

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Recipes

No recipes are filed under this cuisine yet.