Monday 7 November 2011

St Martin’s Eve, celebrating the goose in Skåne!

Fried goose breast with brawn on the thigh wıth black pudding and berries.
Jakob Fridholm/imagebank.sweden.se

As the days are getting darker and the thick autumnal fog covers the fields in the Southern county of Skåne, many people start to look forward to the goose feast on St Martin’s Eve 10th November.

St Martin’s Day was an important medieval autumn feast, and the custom of eating goose spread to Sweden from France. This is the time of the year when seeding is completed and goose is ready for slaughter. Many countries celebrate St Martin’s Day and traditionally 11th November marked the start of fasting so at St. Martin's Eve, people ate and drank for a last time before they started to fast.

A goose dinner takes a long time to cook and it is incredibly rich. Traditionally you start with a bowl of "black soup" (svartsoppa), made from goose blood and goose broth. The goose is often stuffed with apples and prunes and you eat it with seasonal delicacies like cabbage, apples and potatoes. Very often you finish with an apple tart and vanilla sauce.

Have you ever been to a goose feast? What do you do to celebrate St Martin’s Day? Let us know!

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