Eat & Joy

ONE OF THE FINEST INGREDIENTS OF THE FINNISH CUISINE

Eat&Joy, Christer Lindgren
Photo Anna Watson

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Reindeer is the most important utilized animal in the forest area of Lapland. Its most important nutrition consists of lichen, sprigs, mushrooms and vascular plants.

Reindeer herding is one of the rare traditional natural livelihoods in Finland in the 2000’s. It’s a basic livelihood for a small group of the Sami people, also called the Lapps.

Reindeers (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) have been used for carrying and pulling from the beginning of our time. The first written information about reindeers dates back in 499 AD.

Male reindeer over three years is called hirvas, whereas the name for female reindeers is vaadin. Their young are called vasa.

In Finland, reindeer herding has been regulated with a reindeer herding law. According to the law, the southern line of the reindeer herding area goes quite straight from the top of the Gulf of Bothnia to east to the Russian border.

Reindeer herding area covers about 114.000 square kilometres. There are about 7.000 reindeer owners. The area is divided into 60 local herding areas, which are called paliskuntas. These are administrated by Reindeer Herder’s Association, which advances reindeer herding and researching and takes care of relations of reindeer industry to the surrounding society.

Fine meat

Rutting season of reindeers takes place in the fall. Majority of the young is born in the spring, but some might be born not until the following fall, even in October–November. Reindeers spend the summers far in the wilds, swamps and mountains.

Summer nutrition of reindeers is easily digestible with plenty of proteins, vitamins, minerals and trace elements. Reindeers also like to eat mushrooms at the end of the summer and during the fall.

Reindeer owners use to mark their reindeers by cutting their own mark in reindeers’ ears. This helps herders to separate their reindeers from other owners’ animals.

Reindeer meat has higher levels of minerals and trace elements than meat of other animals. Reindeer meat consists of 23 per cent of protein, 3–5 mg of iron per 100 grams and plenty of vitamins A and E and all group B vitamins. Meat and internal organs of reindeers also include plenty of amino acids and 5–10 times more selenium than beef, for example.

Reindeer meat is very low-fat – and what even better, the slight amount of fat it has is similar with the fat of fish meat. It contains even 50–60 per cent of unsaturated fat, which reduces undesired LDL cholesterol. Reindeer meat is also good medicine for lack of selenium.

Production less than 3 million kilos

Until recently, reindeer meat has been sold as roast, filets, smoked or as chopped meat for frying – the last one often with quite an uneven quality. Customers of food markets and restaurants have usually even been unaware of other ways of using reindeer meat.

Cutting, preparing, breeding and marketing skills of reindeer meat have been rapidly growing, especially in restaurants. Due to this, it’s now possible to enjoy other tasty, but previously unused parts of reindeer.

Recent projects, often financed by the European Union, have aimed in moving cutting and small-scale breeding to reindeer farms.

Annual production of reindeer meat with bones reaches 2.9 million kilos, so it’s not wrong say there’s a shortage of production. Only 0.6 kilos of reindeer meat is eaten per person per year in Finland – even so, it’s more than our annual intake of lamb.

However, reindeer is taking its place as one of the finest ingredients of the Finnish cuisine – and it has also gained interest in the finest international restaurants.

Translation Heini Lehtinen