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Relevant random factoid: the Baltic Sea is almost completely enclosed by land and consequently unusually brackish (low in salt), which means a number of sea cre
by jpatokal 9y ago
Relevant random factoid: the Baltic Sea is almost completely enclosed by land and consequently unusually brackish (low in salt), which means a number of sea creatures common in saltier seas, most notably the shipworm, can't live there. Add in the fact that the water is really cold most of the year, and you get a large number of unusually well-preserved wooden wrecks, most famously the Vasa, that would have long go have been eaten away in any other ocean.
https://www.vasamuseet.se/en https://www.vasamuseet.se/en
Speaking of eating, access to the salty Atlantic means that the Norwegians eat lots of shrimp, crab, mussels and even whale, none of which were historically available on the Baltic shores of Sweden or Finland.
- jamesblonde 9y agoThe interesting explanation for why it's the least saline sea in the world, is that there is a narrow outlet channel via Kattegat, and the volume of water from rivers with outlets in the Baltic far exceeds the amount of water that evaporates, so there is a constant outflow of water through Kattegat. So there's not much salty water backdraft. We have perch and ordinary grass growing in the Baltic - weird!
- johansch 9y agoSweden has a western side too, which is where we get all the delicious https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandalus_borealis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandalus_borealis from.
- huhtenberg 9y agoHey, you misspelled https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surstromming https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surstromming
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- johansch 9y ago:) On a serious note, every other kind of shrimp I have tasted besides "northern prawn" (Pandalus Borealis) is just meh in comparison. To clarify: the rest of the culinary world use non-tasteful shrimp as taste carriers. Meanwhile, north sea shrimp are.. the primary source of taste, here. I think you will be surprised when you eventually taste it! That surströmming thing is mainly a bravado thing our northern people do. It's good for headlines and machoism both, which is why it has survived, I guess.
- huhtenberg 9y agoI was going to say - bah, in Canada we have exceptionally tasty shrimp on the west coast, sold directly from the boats and it will beat your borealis to a pulp. But then, just in case, I checked what your shrimp looks like and guess what - it's the same one! :)
- johansch 9y ago:) Do you know if there is a scientific name for the shrimp? I'm thinking the cold water is the primary ingredient in having yummy shrimp.
- beloch 9y agoCanada produces a lot of Pandalus Borealis too, which is fairly common in Canadian supermarkets.
- beloch 9y agoI'll second this. I recently spent some time in Sweden and, on the whole, really enjoyed the shrimp. In particular, the shrimp salad sandwiches. There were bad ones, of course. Bröd & Salt was a fast-food/bakery chain whose shrimp salad wraps weren't very good at all. However, I had some at other places that were good enough to inspire me to try my hand at them once back in Canada. The results with Canadian shrimp? Superior to anything in Sweden, but probably because the shrimp went from frozen to cooked and on the plate in under an hour, while the sandwiches I had in Sweden probably had shrimp that had been sitting in the fridge for a while. The taste of the shrimp was very similar. In any case, I strongly recommend trying your hand at making Swedish shrimp salad sandwiches. They're easy to make and delicious! Edit: It would appear I used "Wild Atlantic Prawns", which were likely Pandalus borealis. So, probably the same species. They're very common in Canadian supermarkets. I didn't realize how lucky we are!
- sorenjan 9y agoIt's only called strömming on the east coast. The same fish is called sill on the west and south coast.
- twic 9y ago> would have long go have been eaten away in any other ocean Ahem! http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/10/black-sea-shipwreck-discovery/ http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/10/black-sea-shipwre...