Apple slices are apple slices if you translate the Danish directly into English… which is a bit confusing. Danish is already not the easiest language, and in this case the translation is not even close!
It’s season
Apple slices – which are actually lightly cardamom-spiced, spherical pancakes – are a traditional Danish delight that is found everywhere during the Christmas season. Well, in fact, supermarkets are starting to have them in stock from November! However, some naughty Danes will tell you that it is too early as we have to follow the calendar to eat certain foods.
Apple slices are best served warm with icing sugar and jam next to it for dipping. It is a must in the Danish Christmas, but when I ask around where you can get the best, there is probably no one who can answer.
So I decided to try all the different brands so you do not have to!
Best in test!
Before I stuffed myself, I decided to give you some fun facts (see fact box), but in reality, it might not be the best idea.
All that story made me sleepy, which is probably not the best preparation for a taste test… or maybe it was the mulled wine.
I bought five different brands of apple slices from different supermarkets:
Naturli – vegan
It certainly lacks a creamy flavor, but had a slightly stronger citrusy aroma that was a welcome surprise. 3/5
Selling organic
Nothing special … 2/5
Irma organic
Fluffy, spongy and moist while being stronger on the cardamom. Irma keeps the quality together with higher prices. 5/5
Jensen’s original
A bite… that’s it. Would not waste any more of my quota of Christmas food intake. 1/5
Rema 1000 gluten free
Since it is gluten free, the texture is very different but this is my favorite of them all! It is light and airy and you can eat a lot without feeling too full. It’s just a little bit higher on the calories. 5/5
Full time!
That’s enough apple slices for me this season!
We wish you all a very merry Christmas filled with delicious food, hot mulled wine and apple pie.
The origin of the apple slices
The origin of the sweet Danish treat is unknown. The first documented mention, sometime in the 18th century, refers to apple slices as apple slices mixed with flour and eggs, which were fried on the pan.
However, there are a few legends like this that I think the Danes have invented because they are so proud to descend from the Vikings! Apparently the warriors invented apple slices to treat themselves to some food of pancake after a fight. They are round because they used their shields to cook them.
Curious filling
When the apples disappeared from apple slices is unknown, but there are poems and stories from the mid-19th century that refer to apple-filled varieties, suggesting that some were already doing without the fruit.
Today they still make them with apples in some southern parts of Denmark. They are also sometimes stuffed with prunes and are therefore more like Berliner pfannkuchens. In Norway they have ‘monks’ who are quite similar.
Tasty beginnings
In fact, it was the Saracens who lived in the province that the Romans called Syria – not to be confused with modern-day Syria – that is credited with creating the original ‘apple slice’. From Syria, the Crusaders brought the ingenious baked goods back to France – sometime in the 13th century.
Originally, the apple slice was a kind of snack bought from shopkeepers at the door or small stalls on the street. The form we know today – the sweet delicacy – only really emerged when sugar began to be imported in the 18th century.
Sisters of flatulence
In French, modern apple slices are known by many names, including Bugnes de Lyon, Roussette de Strasbourg, Merveille de Gascogne, Bottereau des Chrentes and Oreillette de Provence. Either way, they were made as Danish apple slices in earlier times with different types of fruit or fruit puree as a flavoring. Later came the icing sugar.
In French, the original dough blobs fried in oil are also called ‘pet-de-nonnes’ (nuns’ farts). Legend has it that a group of nuns were preparing dinner when one of them escaped a giant fart. The others laughed and in the dizziness one of the sisters dropped a blob of water-baking dough into a pan of hot oil. In priorities and other such establishments, apple slices are called ‘nonnesuk’… for understandable reasons.
Source: The Nordic Page