Lent, Semla & Easter in Sweden

Sweden hasn’t been Roman Catholic since the 1500s, but the custom of feasting on Fat Tuesday the day before the Lenten fast begins, has been preserved in a single bun. Called fettisdagbulle, literally Fat Tuesday bun, this pastry is also known as semla (pl. semlor) after the Latin word for wheat bun, simila. Originally semlor were unfilled caraway buns baked from finely ground wheat flour, a luxury reserved for the well-to-do. In 1771, these buns became infamous when the Swedish King Adolf Frederick (1751-1771) died after a meal of oysters, lobsters, meat with turnips, caviar, smoked herring—and semlor. Blamed for the royal death, the buns were immediately banned (because who would want to ban oysters and caviar!), but by the early 1800s, wealthy Swedes were buying the buns from bakeries and distributing them to their serving folk on Fat Tuesday.

Today these buns, filled with almond paste and whipped cream and dusted with powdered sugar, are eaten alone or in a bowl of hot milk. Some bakeries sell them year-round, others from the week after Christmas until Easter.