Iceland
Photo: Schnee (talk), CC BY-SA 4.0, croppedSkyr
/ˈscɪːr̥/SKEER
No recording by a native speaker yet. Use the spelling above.
No ratings yet. Be the first.
- Taste
- SourFresh
- Made with
- Dairy & cheese
History
Skyr is a thick cultured dairy food made from skimmed milk, warmed, soured with a bit of an earlier batch and strained until very thick. Icelanders eat it like yogurt, but technically it is a fresh cheese. Skyr came to Iceland with the Norse settlers in the 800s and is mentioned in the medieval sagas; it was made on farms across Scandinavia, but it disappeared elsewhere and survived in Iceland, where it was a key source of protein through hard centuries. It was traditionally eaten with milk and sugar, or mixed with oatmeal porridge into a dish called hræringur. Since the 2000s skyr has been sold around the world, but the name and the Icelandic method remain tied to the island.
Sources
