Flavors · Finland

mämmi

A dark Easter sweet made from rye flour and rye malt slowly cooked until they sweeten on their own, with bitter orange peel. It is served cold with heavy cream and sugar, and appears throughout the country before Easter.

Traditional sweet from Finland

Also known as: memma

Updated November 2026

Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.

Click a photo to enlarge it.

mämmi — Finland

Mämmi is made with water, rye flour, ground rye malt, salt and dried bitter orange peel. The mixture rests warm so the malt converts some of the starch into sugar, then it is slowly cooked and baked for hours in the oven. The result is a dark-brown, almost black paste with a gently sweet-and-bitter malt flavor. Many recipes add molasses. Mämmi is kept in the refrigerator and eaten cold.

The official portal This is Finland says the tradition goes back at least to the 17th century and perhaps to the 12th century. According to historians interviewed by Yle, the sweet spread from southwest Finland to the rest of the country in the 18th century.

Near Easter, mämmi appears in all supermarkets in small boxes, and many families still make it at home. Its dark appearance divides opinions, and Finns themselves joke about it. The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare classifies mämmi as sweetened malt porridge.

Share: WhatsApp

Where it comes from

Finland
Mämmi is the country’s Easter sweet, sold in all supermarkets in the weeks before the holiday.

Ingredients

Water, rye flour, ground rye malt, salt and dried bitter orange peel. In many recipes, molasses.

How it is eaten

Cold, in a bowl, with heavy cream and sugar on top.

When it is eaten

Easter and the weeks before it.

Your questions

Questions about mämmi

What is mämmi?

A Finnish Easter sweet made from rye flour and rye malt, slowly cooked until dark and mildly sweet. It is served cold with heavy cream and sugar.

When is mämmi eaten in Finland?

At Easter and in the weeks before it, when the sweet appears in all supermarkets across the country.

Does mämmi contain sugar?

The sweetness comes mainly from the rye malt, which converts some starch into sugar during preparation. Many recipes add molasses, and sugar is added on top with the cream.

Flavors of Finland

Discover other flavors of Finland

Dish · Finland

lohikeitto

Salmon soup with potato, carrot and leek, in a broth finished with cream and fresh dill on top. It’s a nationwide dish, served in lunch restaurants, cafés and homes, almost always with rye bread.

Dish · Finland

ruisleipä

Dark, dense, sour bread made from whole rye flour and natural fermentation, formed round, with or without a hole, or dried. It appears at almost every meal and was chosen as Finland’s national food in a 2017 public vote.

Drink · Finland

sahti

Traditional farmhouse beer made from barley malt and other cereals, filtered over juniper branches in a wooden trough without boiling the wort. Its production method is protected by the European Union and it is included in Finland’s inventory of living heritage.

Dish · Carélia do Norte

karjalanpiirakka

Open, oval pastry made with a thin rye dough, with pleated edges and filled with rice porridge, potato or barley, served with egg butter. It comes from Karelia and its method of preparation is protected by the European Union.

Sweet · Ilhas Åland

ålandspannkaka

Oven-baked pudding made from semolina or rice porridge with milk, eggs and cardamom, served in squares with dried plum cream and whipped cream. The islanders of Åland chose it as the dish of the century.

Sweet · Kainuu

Kainuun rönttönen

Small round open tart made with a rye crust, filled with mashed potato sweetened by the potato itself and crushed lingonberry. It is the specialty of the Kainuu region and has a protected geographical indication from the European Union.

Dish · Kuopio

kalakukko

Rye dough bread filled with lake fish and pork belly, baked for hours until the crust darkens. It’s the food of Kuopio’s market square, sold hot, and its method of preparation is protected by the European Union.

Dish · Lapônia

poronkäristys

Sliced reindeer meat, sautéed with onion and butter and simmered in broth or beer, served with mashed potatoes and lingonberries. It’s the dish most associated with reindeer herding in Lapland.

Dish · Lappeenranta

vety

Fried meat pie, split open and filled with ham and boiled egg, with mustard, ketchup and cucumber salad. With only one of the two fillings it’s called atomi. It’s the snack sold at the market square and harbour stalls in Lappeenranta.

Dish · Lemi

Lemin särä

Lamb and potatoes slow-roasted for hours in a wood-fired oven in a long birch wooden trough called särä. It is Lemi’s traditional food in South Karelia, served with barley bread.

Sweet · Porvoo

runebergintorttu

A small cylindrical cake made with almond and cookie crumbs, moistened with rum or punch and topped with a ring of icing with raspberry jam in the center. It is named after the national poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg, who lived in Porvoo.

Dish · Savonlinna

lörtsy

Thin, flattened half-moon pastry, fried in oil, filled with meat or apple jam. It’s Savonlinna’s specialty, sold at the market square next to the steamboat passenger harbor.

Dish · Tampere

mustamakkara

A black sausage made from blood and pork with ground cereal, sold hot at Tampere’s market squares and served with lingonberry jam. The city’s tourism board calls it Tampere’s emblematic dish.

All the flavors of Finland