Have you ever eaten canned herring? A netizen described the taste of canned herring as follows: After the hand touches the packaging, it smells like a durian with rotten fish, and then mixed with the smell of rotten eggs.
Canned herring
How smelly canned herring is
Japanese natto everyone should have heard of, smelly and sticky. People who like to eat are full of praise, and people who don't like to eat sneer at it. But even the Japanese, who love natto, can't stand canned herring.
The strict Japanese also gave it a rating, natto and mainland stinky tofu are similar, are more than 400 points. But the stink value of canned herring directly soared to 8070, which is equivalent to the stinky collection of 2000 cans of stinky tofu.
Canned herring
In the 1980s, a German guy accidentally spilled canned herring soup in the landlord's hallway. That kind of old-fashioned apartment everyone has seen in the movie, the landlord lives not far from him, smells the smell and gets angry on the spot, and directly drives the tenant out.
Unconvinced, the guy took the landlord to court. At first, the judge thought it was a trivial matter, not to tear up the contract for a can of cans. But just after he smelled the canned herring on the evidence, he immediately changed the verdict to the landlord's acquittal.
In addition, canned herring is prohibited on international flights. British and Air France have even issued a joint statement treating canned herring as the highest level contraband, prohibiting passengers from bringing canned herring on board.
Canned herring
The reason they gave was that cans are prone to leaks and bursts in low-pressure environments, and it is clear that there must have been similar incidents.
In May 2014, a fire broke out at a herring canning plant in Sweden, and thousands of canned herring exploded. Imagine that scene, where thousands of canned herring are flying towards a residential area, which is much more terrifying than a sewer pipe bursting. It has been jokingly called the "Second Chernobyl Incident".
Why do canned herring stink so much?
The smell of canned herring has little to do with herring. As a traditional food in Sweden, canned herring has been around for more than 300 years.
Canned herring is native to the Scandinavian Peninsula in Sweden. The weather here is cold, and nearly half of the time of the year the day is extremely short.
Canned herring
During the day, there is less ultraviolet light and it is impossible to cultivate. Winter weather is extremely cold, and the risk of going out to sea to catch fish is also very high. Sweden's ancestors had to catch a lot of fish in the summer and then find a way to preserve it. Later, the method of high salt and fermentation of canned herring was adopted, which has been used to this day.
On the other hand, Sweden used to be an area where the Vikings lived, and this fermented herring can be sized for a long time and is also easy to carry when going to sea.
By now, canned herring is no longer needed as a food for wintering, but this traditional food has been preserved to this day.
Canned herring
Swedes catch herring from April to June every year, when they consider the herring to be the most delicious.
The herring caught is first boiled in thick brine over a warm fire to play a role in sterilization. The fish head and internal organs are then removed and sealed in cans for natural fermentation. After fermentation, the herring will be more salty, which can also save a lot of salt.
Marinated until mid-August, the canned herring has been fully fermented and has become very "tender and juicy". At the same time, the cans can become slightly touched and dirty due to the gas produced by fermentation. Any sight of a can that is bulging indicates that the herring has been successfully pickled.
Canned herring bulging up
That is to say, the purest and fresh canned herring is generally listed in August and September, and the small partners who like to eat should seize the opportunity.
Why do Swedes like to eat canned herring?
Some people will say that this is like our stinky tofu, which is a characteristic of others. But do you know how Swedes eat herring?
Every year on the third Thursday of August is Sweden's "Herring Festival". They will hold a special queue for herring, prepare fine wines and delicacies, and invite friends and family to taste pickled herring together.
Pickled herring
People eat pickled herring on potatoes, onions, cream, and a tasteless pie. It is served with a strong wine that serves as a "throat moisturizer" for herring queues.
In this way, Swedes eat more than 800 tons of pickled herring a year. There are 10 million people in Sweden, which is equivalent to eating at least one can per person per year. So they don't feel bad when they eat it?
Some Swedes believe that there must be a smell, but aside from the smell, the taste of canned herring is still relatively tender, and the soup is rich in protein and trace elements, which is very good for the human body.
Some young People in Sweden feel that canned herring is a traditional folk food like Chinese stinky tofu. They don't like to eat, but they are relatively acceptable than foreigners.
Today, some canned herring in Sweden also adds seasonings to make canned herring more palatable to make it more palatable.
Herring with bread
In addition, Swedish locals do not eat canned herring as we do. They will fish out the herring and wash it, then remove the thorns, slice it, and eat it on bread with vegetables. It can probably be understood as our tofu milk, which looks bad, but eats the next meal.
Finally, I would like to ask you a question, if you were about to starve to death now, and you had two portions of food in front of you, one was an oil fish that was diluted when you ate it, and the other was a canned herring that smelled so bad, which one would you choose?