These syrups are used in baked goods, candies, and sweetened sauces for meats and dishes like cabbage rolls. Made primarily of beet sugar, they are popular liquid sweeteners in sweet and savory recipes throughout Sweden, Finland, and Norway. Scandinavian recipes often use either light syrup (ljus sirap, or bread syrup) or dark syrup (mörk sirap, or dark bread syrup). Available from stores specializing in Scandinavian ingredients, you can use several substitutions, including golden syrup, treacle, corn syrup, and molasses.
What is Scandinavian Sirap?
In Scandinavia, the word for syrup is scrap. It is mostly made of beet sugar, but some syrups also have cane sugar. To understand how beet sugar is used, it is important to look at the history of sugar.
Cane sugar from the New World was first used to make sugar. It was shipped to Europe, where it was refined and sold for a high price. When Sweden’s first sugar refinery opened in the middle of the 17th century, sugar was a luxury that only the wealthy could enjoy. During the Napoleonic Wars, when there was a blockade on ships, it was found that sugar could also be made from beets. After slavery was ended in the middle of the 19th century, cane sugar prices went up because people had to be fairly paid for their work and benefits. Sugar beets became a good replacement.
At the start of the 20th century, there were ten sugar refineries in Sweden. In 1907, they joined together to form the Svenska Sockerfabriks AB (SSA) company. The company underwent a few changes before becoming Dansukker (or Dan Sukker) in 2000. Most scrap is made under this brand name.
What are the Varieties of Scandinavian Sirap?
There are two main kinds of Scandinavian syrup: light and dark. Similar differences exist between golden syrup and black treacle, used in British cooking, and corn syrup and molasses, used in North American cooking. There are also a few other syrups used in Scandinavian cooking, but most are just slight variations on the same theme.
- Light syrup, also called bread syrup or just scrap in Norway, is used as a topping for baked goods and sauces. The syrup labeled “ekologisk” is organic.
- Most of the time, dark syrup (more scrap) is used as an ingredient, often in gingerbread or to make savory dishes taste better.
- Vit strap is a light syrup often used in wheat and saffron bread recipes.
- Brod strap is a light syrup that has malt added to it. It is often used in candy and cakes. It does not have any gluten.
- Glykossirap, called glucose syrup, keeps things from turning into ice crystals. This makes it a great sweetener for soft, creamy frozen desserts like ice cream.
What does it Taste Like?
Straps from Scandinavia are sweet, just like all other syrups. The light syrup is the sweeter of the two. Compared to other syrups, it has a very thin consistency and tastes like brown sugar. The dark syrup is thicker, sweeter, and tastes more like toffee and less like molasses than American light molasses. Are the maple syrups with more color sweeter? No! Vermont law says that all four grades of maple syrup must have the same amount of sugar, which is 66%.
How to Make Scandinavian Dark Syrup?
Even though dark syrup and brown syrup are made with brown cane sugar, they taste different. It tastes more like caramel than brown sugar syrup and is thicker. Brown sugar syrup has a mild flavor and is often used to sweeten drinks like Ie coffee. The dark syrup is used a lot in cooking and baking in Finland. I use it in traditional dishes like casseroles, cookies, carrot cakes, and the traditional Finnish archip logo.
After playing around in the kitchen for an afternoon, I made a syrup that looks and tastes like what you can buy in Scandinavian food stores. You only need brown cane sugar and water, which are easy to find, so you should be able to make this s up at home no matter where you live. You will also need two pots, a measuring cup, and a spoon to stir the syrup.
Ingredients
- Two parts brown cane sugar
- 1 part boiling water
- (sea salt to taste)
Instructions
- Bring some water to boil in a pot.
- Start to heat the cane sugar in another pot. Keep stirring until the sugar starts to dissolve.
- Once almost all of the sugar has melted, take the pot off the stove and stir it. The goal is to completely melt the sugar without letting it boil hard or catch fire. Once the sugar has melted, add the boiling water careful y and stir it in as quickly as you can. (The sugar is very hot, and when the water is added, the syrup will bubble and steam.)
- Most likely, some of the sugar will get hard. Put the pot back on the stove over low heat to eliminate clumps. Make sure the syrup doesn’t start to bubble up a lot. Stir the syrup and add one spoonful of boiling was er at a time until it looks even. It could take up to 5 minutes o do this. Now is a good time to add a little salt if you want to.
Store in a glass jar. If the syrup turns into crystals, you can heat it in a water bath and add a teaspoon l of water at a time.
What are the Uses of Scandinavian Syrup?
In avian cooking, baked goods are often made with liquid sweeteners. Vortbrod is a dense, heavy bread made with dark scrap. IIt’sused to make additional Christmas cookies like gingersnaps, kolasnittar with cinnamon, and peppar kakor. The brewer’s wort, a product of making beer, gives it a lovely earthy flavor.
Straps also make candies and sauce reductions that go well with different kinds of meat. Kldomar is a traditional recipe for cabbage rolls made with pork, beef, rice, eggs, spices, and light syrup.
Scandinavian Syrup Substitutes
Instead of maple syrup, straps are most like golden syrup and treacle from Britain or molasses from the United States. If you don a light strap, you can use light golden syrup (like Lyle’s or corn syrup in a pinch. Instead of a dark strap, use light molasses or treacle. Another choice is to mix dark treacle syrup and golden syrup in equal parts. Be aware that these substitutions will work in your recipe, but they will change the flavor from what you were going for.
Where to Buy Scandinavian Syrups?
Scandinavian straps can be hard to find in the United States because they are not made there or used by many people. They can be bought online from companies in Scandinavia. You might also find them in stores that sell foods or goods from Europe. If you want to bake for the holidays, place your order early enough to allow for shipping.
Storage
Both light and dark strips should be kept in the same way you would keep any other syrup: in a sealed bottle at room temperature. The syrups have a very long shelf life. They can last up to two years, depending on when they were made. For the best results, you should pay attention to the date on the bottle and throw away syrup that has crystallized.
Scandinavian Syrups Scope
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Conclusion
In Scandinavia, the word for syrup is scrapped. It is mostly made of beet sugar, but some syrups also have cane sugar. To understand how beet sugar is used, it is important to look at the history of sugar. As the season goes on and temperatures get warmer and the sap gets older, the sugar starts to break down. These new sugars caramelize faster when heated, so the syrup tends to be darker and taste stronger; like white or red wine or light or dark beer, neither is better than the other. It’s just a matter of taste. Instead of maple syrup, straps are most like golden syrup and treacle from Britain or molasses from the United States.
Instead of a dark strap, use light molasses or treacle. If you don’t have a light strap, you can use light golden syrup (like Lyle’s) or corn syrup in a pinch. The dark syrup is made from sugar beets and cane sugar used in cooking and baking in Scandinavia. Even though dark syrup and brown syrup are made with brown cane sugar, they taste different. If you live outside of Europe, it might be hard to find.
