DRINK: Sima and Kotikalja
Gary Benson
I received the following message and recipes from Outi Kaisa Ollikainen
in Helsinki in response to my request in another newsgroup for a recipe
for "Sima", (pronounced "see'-muh") the traditional Finnish May Day
drink. She also included a recipe for Kotikalja ("coat'-ee-call-yuh"),
a year-round treat in Finnish homes. Kotikalja means "home beer", but
is non-alcoholic; it is only fermented long enough to make bubbles. It
is sually pretty sweet, but quite tasty. It is served the way we serve
Coke I suppose.
Here is what Outi Kaisa ("oat'-tea kye'-za") had to say:
oko> It would be very nice if you corrected the mistakes I made and
posted it to alt.food.recipes, HOORAY the Finnish drinking habbits ;-))
[I couldn't find these alleged mistakes, so I am sending it just as I
received it. GB.]
oko> The drink you were looking for is SIMA, which is, as you said,
traditional May day drink.
[About the units of measurement: dl means deciliter, about half a cup;
a Finnish teaspoon is about half the size of those in the US, but a
tablespoon is more like the US soup spoon. GB.]
SIMA
====
~ 5 l.
5 l water
1 1/2 dl sugar
1 1/2 dl brown sugar
1 1/2 dl beer (preferably non-alcohol)
1 lemon
2 teaspoons baking yeast
5-6 raisins/bottle
1 tablespoon sugar/bottle
Boil water, sugars, beer and the yellow part of the lemon's
peel. Let the mixture cool down.
Peel the white part of the lemon's peel carefully and cut the fruit
part of the lemon in small pieces and add to sima. Disolve the yeast
in a bit of sima and add to sima.
Put 5-6 raisins and 1 tablespoon sugar in every bottle. Put sima in
bottles and close the bottles carefully. Leave sima in a cold place for
a couple of days. Sima is ready when the raisins float (you know what
I mean...???). Sima is drinkable for 1-2 weeks if you keep it in a cold place.
I have (like every Finn does ;-) the recipe for Kotikalja too, it
differs a bit from yours but since I haven't got a decent dictionary I
can't translate it correctly (whats MALTAAT in English.., malted rye??)
The ingredients are :
3 dl sugar
4 1/2 dl MALTAITA (malted rye???) [Yes. Rye malt. Barley malt
works, but does not produce the true flavor of kotikalja. GB.]
4-5 l water
1 table spoon baking yeast (yes, baking yeast)
Put MALTAAT and sugar in a bucket. Boil water and pour it in the
bucket. Let the mixture cool down and drain filter it. Disolve yeast in
a bit of Kotikalja and add it to kotikalja. Leave the bucket until
next day in room temperature (20 C). Cool down the drink. Kotikalja
stays drinkable 3-4 days stored in closed bucket or bottles in a cold place.
Gary Benson i...@sisu.fluke.com