No Scandinavian smörgåsbord is complete without herring in many different forms: served in a variety of marinades and sauces, as ingredients in warm dishes and salads and on open-faced sandwiches.

While shops in Scandinavia carry many different varieties of herring, the selection in US stores is limited, especially in supermarkets. You have to shop European and/or Oriental stores and delis to find an adequate assortment. 

Herring in brine is used as the base for many recipes. It is soaked for 12 hours to remove the salt, then pickled. See recipe for Basic Pickled Herring. If you can’t find herring in brine or don’t want to go to the trouble, you can substitute canned, pickled herring. Look for herring in lightly spiced marinade, since you will create the taste sensations with the spices, herbs and condiments in the recipes.

Anchovies: It is important to buy the Swedish type anchovies in all recipes calling for anchovies, not the saltier type commonly found in American supermarkets. They can be found in Scandinavian delicatessens.

Matjes herring is herring that has not spawned. It is filleted and prepared in a tasty marinade of vinegar, sugar, salt and spices. It can be found canned in European delis. The word comes from the Dutch maatjesharing, where maatjes means maiden and haring means herring.

Herring in special sauces: Herring also comes in jars with various sauces, for example wine, mustard, or sour cream.

Kippers are smoked herring and can bought canned in American supermarkets.

Sardines are also readily found in American supermarkets.

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HERRING HISTORY

The Scandinavians have enjoyed herring for thousands of years. Archaeologists have found herring bones at many stone age sites. The first fishing tools were spears and traps, but fishnets were invented already during the Older Stone Age. The remains of a fishnet dated to 7300 B.C. has been found in Finland.

The Vikings, of course, also ate a lot of herring. They would cure them by soaking them in salt water, then hang them up to dry in sun and wind. In the 12th century, Denmark’s economy expanded primarily thanks to the herring trade. The center of the herring commerce was Scania (Skåne) which at that time was part of Denmark.

The supply of herring in the Scandinavian ocean waters varies greatly from period to period. The fluctuations in herring quantity off the coast of Bohuslän in western Sweden have been charted all the way back to the 10th century. The supply increases sharply at intervals of slightly more than a century. Thus, nine periods of increased herring catch and resulting economic upswing have occurred in Bohuslän in the last millennium. Each up-period lasts several decades and is followed by a down-period of 50 or more years. These fluctuations are believed to be caused by climactic variations, such as wind, air and water temperatures, and currents which all produce variations of saltiness of the ocean water. The consequences of modern fishing methods and pollutants are new components awaiting longterm evaluation.