# Have you ever had casu marzu? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 2, 2012, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-casu-marzu/633439 "2012-09-02T13:13:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-casu-marzu/633439/21 "2012-09-05T12:09:14Z")
- Crosses **Floater’s** name off list of “People who I’d party with” - ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-casu-marzu/633439/22 "2012-09-05T14:34:19Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > - Crosses **Floater’s** name off list of “People who I’d party with” - I was at a party hosted by some Swedish expats in Baltimore, and we started playing a trivia game. I won a jar of pickled herring. I shall never again party with Swedes. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-casu-marzu/633439/23 "2012-09-05T15:46:04Z")
B-b-b-but, pickled herring is a delicacy. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-casu-marzu/633439/24 "2012-09-05T15:58:43Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > - Crosses **Floater’s** name off list of “People who I’d party with” - Surströmming season started a couple of weeks or so ago. Just so you know. In case you have nowt to do this weekend. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-casu-marzu/633439/25 "2012-09-06T06:21:34Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > Surströmming season started a couple of weeks or so ago. > > Just so you know. In case you have nowt to do this weekend. And so did the crayfish season. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-casu-marzu/633439/26 "2012-09-06T08:16:16Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > And so did the crayfish season. Well that’s my weekend organised. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-casu-marzu/633439/27 "2012-09-06T13:22:17Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > Surströmming season started a couple of weeks or so ago. > > Just so you know. In case you have nowt to do this weekend. So I’m probably being whooshed, but how can a canned food have a season? Isn’t the whole point of canning so you can have the food whenever you want? ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-casu-marzu/633439/28 "2012-09-06T13:35:57Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > So I’m probably being whooshed, but how can a canned food have a season? Isn’t the whole point of canning so you can have the food whenever you want? The fish are caught in the spring, salted and stored in barrels for some time until they are ready to be canned. After that there is a period of fermentation in the can until the whole process is finished and they are ready to be eaten. All this has turned into a tradition that the third Thursday in August is the grand opening night of the surströmming season (until 1998 there was even a law stating that selling was prohibited before that day). Of course the real connoisseurs claim that one, two or even three years old cans are much better. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-casu-marzu/633439/29 "2012-09-06T14:48:38Z")
And the cans will actually swell from the built-up gasses, if left long enough. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-casu-marzu/633439/30 "2012-09-06T19:28:47Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > And the cans will actually swell from the built-up gasses, if left long enough. Um. **Mama Excellent** raised us kids with the knowledge that one should never, ever eat from a swollen can - that’s botulism country. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-casu-marzu/633439/31 "2012-09-06T19:44:10Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > Um. **Mama Excellent** raised us kids with the knowledge that one should never, ever eat from a swollen can - that’s botulism country. 😃 In a food where all the wee beasties are supposed to have been killed off, yeah. For surstromming, swelling is not a bad thing. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-casu-marzu/633439/32 "2012-09-06T19:52:38Z")
> [@](#): > > What I found ridiculous about hotels banning the consumption of surströmming is that it is not something you sit down and eat alone. It’s for parties. As in, venues where everyone is drunk off their gourd? ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-casu-marzu/633439/33 "2012-09-06T21:30:50Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > As in, venues where everyone is drunk off their gourd? That was the situation the time I munched on an insect larva. Mealworm, not maggot, those would make me puke. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-casu-marzu/633439/34 "2012-09-06T21:44:01Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > I was at a party hosted by some Swedish expats in Baltimore, and we started playing a trivia game. I won a jar of pickled herring. > > I shall never again party with Swedes. If it is anything like the german pickled herring rollmops I can’t believe you hated it, they are downright delicious! I’ve actually had random cravings for some and searched for to no avail.☹ > **[Rollmops](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollmops)** > > Rollmops (listenⓘ) are pickled herring fillets, rolled into a cylindrical shape, often around a savoury filling. > The filling usually consists of onion and sliced pickled gherkin. Rollmops are often skewered with a cocktail skewer. > Rollmops are usually bought ready-to-eat, in jars or tubs. The brine additionally consists of water, white vinegar, and salt; it may also contain sugar or other sweetening agents, onion rings, peppercorns and mustard seeds. Rollmops can be eaten cold, without unrollin... ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-casu-marzu/633439/35 "2012-09-06T22:17:57Z")
Question: I’ve seen pickled herring at my local American supermarket. They also have pickled herring in sour cream or some kind of yogurt. Is that surstromming? It doesn’t say on the side of the can ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-casu-marzu/633439/36 "2012-09-06T22:22:13Z")
> [@grude](#): > > If it is anything like the german pickled herring rollmops I can’t believe you hated it, they are downright delicious! I’ve actually had random cravings for some and searched for to no avail.☹ > > [Rollmops - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollmops) I love rollmops, and they’re ubiquitous where I’m at (go to any Eastern European grocery and you’ll find them. Chicago is chock full of Eastern European groceries), but I can easily believe somebody hating them. Pickled fish is not exactly an easy sell for the average American palate. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-casu-marzu/633439/37 "2012-09-06T22:23:15Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Question: I’ve seen pickled herring at my local American supermarket. They also have pickled herring in sour cream or some kind of yogurt. Is that surstromming? It doesn’t say on the side of the can No, surstromming is nothing like pickled herring, except that they’re made from the same fish. I _LOVE_ pickled herring. Surstromming is just something else entirely. I’ve only been able to mail order it here in the US. I’ve never seen it at a store. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-casu-marzu/633439/38 "2012-09-06T22:26:58Z")
Surstromming is what happens to herring if you _don’t_ pickle it properly. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-casu-marzu/633439/39 "2012-09-07T09:38:48Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > As in, venues where everyone is drunk off their gourd? I think you nailed it, although some connoisseurs claim that you should drink milk instead of vodka. > [@grude](#): > > If it is anything like the german pickled herring rollmops I can’t believe you hated it, they are downright delicious! I can’t say I have eaten rollmops, but I had a very delicious pickled herring in Duisburg the other year. > [@Chronos](#): > > Surstromming is what happens to herring if you _don’t_ pickle it properly. As a professor in food chemistry put it “All pickling and other food conservation processes is controlled decay and if you don’t follow the recipe minutely you run a high risk of dying”. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-casu-marzu/633439/40 "2012-09-09T09:16:15Z")
Casu Marzu, what eat cheese, gross ! UMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM maggots, drool . [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-casu-marzu/633439.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-had-casu-marzu/633439.md?page=3)