Fenalår fra Norge

Appearance & taste

The meat is evenly reddish, tender and medium-firm to firm, without mould and without a dry edge; the fat is slightly golden. It has a rounded taste of meat without the typical taste of mutton coming through too strongly, along with a clean cured aroma and a mildly salty taste. Marinated or seasoned legs take on the taste of their spices, such as rosemary, garlic, pepper, thyme, juniper berries or honey.

The “matured” variant contains less than 7 % salt, the “traditional” variant less than 9 %; the designation appears on the label in each case. After drying, a whole leg of lamb weighs 1.4 to 2.1 kg, a leg from an adult sheep 2.0 to 4.2 kg. It is sold whole on the bone, whole without the bone or in thin slices of 0.6 to 1.2 mm; the hooves and the lower part of the leg are usually removed wholly or partly.

Production

The animals are born, reared and slaughtered in Norway, lambs at 7 to 8 months, adult sheep at 1 to 5 years; over 90 % are slaughtered from September to November. Eligible breeds include the Norwegian White Sheep, the Dala sheep, the Norwegian Pelt Sheep and the Old Norwegian short-tailed landrace, as well as their crosses. Fresh or frozen legs are used, the frozen ones no more than 12 months old.

The residual blood is pressed out of the legs by massaging, then they are salted. The temperature stays below 7 °C during production. Drying takes place in a suitably humid climate; each leg is checked by hand to determine the right degree of drying. The “traditional” variant loses at least 30 % of its weight in the process and usually dries and matures for 3 to 6 months, the “matured” variant loses at least 35 % and needs 5 to 9 months. Smoking, if done at all, is cold, with beechwood chips, sometimes with juniper.

Origin & history

According to the specification, the cool climate and steep terrain with plenty of grassland have produced a long tradition of extensive sheep farming in Norway. In 1555 Olaus Magnus wrote that the “northerners” ate mutton raw all year round after it had been placed in brine, smoked and dried in the fresh air. According to the specification, the product was probably already made in the Viking Age (800–1050), and finds of sheep bones from around 3000 BC suggest that legs of mutton were already being dried at that time.

Fenalår is made in all four regions of Norway. The producers know from experience how to adapt the processing to the local temperature, humidity and wind. Until the end of the 19th century, farmers mostly made the legs themselves; today this know-how is also used on a larger scale. Fenalår is eaten above all on holidays such as 17 May, the national day, at Christmas and in the warm summer.