Reindeer Suovas

Slow Food Presidium

Sweden

Norrbottens län

Cured meats and meat products

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Reindeer Suovas

Reindeer meat is the traditional food of the Sámi indigenous people that live in an area called Sápmi, an arc of land spreading across the north of Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Russia. The Sámi speak dialects of the indigenous Sámi language and their culture has been shaped by the extreme cold and isolation. Here, winter lasts 200 days a year, during which temperatures sometimes dip below –30°C. During two fleeting months of summer, berries can be collected along with wild grasses and lichens, but the traditional food supply remains almost entirely dependent on the giant herds of reindeer that migrate annually to the mountains. Today, about 3,000 of the 35,000 Swedish Sámi are reindeer herders, a vocation that is limited to ethnic Sámi by law. The Sámi’s reindeer are semi-wild and they pass the winter grazing in forests, moving to higher altitudes to graze in spring and summer. The Sámi are no longer nomadic—and some novelties such as helicopters and snowmobiles have radically changed the way they herd—but reindeer herders must follow their herds between the forests and the high mountains every season.
Much of the traditional Sámi food was developed to remain edible for the long periods when the nomadic Sámi were on the move. One of the most traditional preparations of this special, flavorsome meat is Suovas. Suovas is prepared by dry-salting meat and smoking it in a traditional peaked hut for eight hours over an open fire. Suovas can be cut into pieces and grilled or eaten raw. Tasty yet delicate, Suovas can be eaten in fine slices accompanied by pickled mushrooms and lingonberries. For long trips, the Sámi traditionally pack Suovas with unleavened bread to eat on the trail.

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This Presidium wishes to safeguard the traditional preparation of Suovas made only from the tender meat cut from the reindeer's inner loin (Coarbealli in Sami language) and brings together Suovas producers in Swedish Sápmi. Presidium Suovas is made from the meat of semi-wild animals that are slaughtered every autumn and winter; it is prepared throughout the year with the most traditional techniques of preparation, salting, smoking, and curing. The reindeer used to produce Presidium Suovas are not given any antibiotics or man-made feeds and graze entirely on the natural forage found in Sápmi. The Presidium, which it is hoped will eventually include all Sápmi producers, is working to raise awareness of this ancient cured meat and to encourage the consumption of reindeer meat instead of introducing ill-adapted domesticated animals that may harm this Arctic region's delicate ecosystem.

Production area
Swedish Sápmi

Presidium supported by
Sámiid Riikasearvi (Association for the Protection of Sámi Culture)
Lappalandsvilt AB
Andreas Lidström
Kajsa Fjellström
Järnvägsgatan 10,
912 34 Vilhelmina
+46 702531617
lapplandsvilt@live.se
www.viltprodukter.se

Renbiten AB
Helena Andersson
Peter Andersson
Grövelsjövägen 360,
79091 Idre
+46 253 23330 / +46 705 779376
info@renbiten.se
www.renbiten.se

Sapmi Ren och Vilt
Helena Länta
+46 70-273 75
Rickard Länta
+46 73-082 33 69
Per-oddvar Hansen
+46 76-812 56 91
Hantverkargatan 71
962 33 Jokkmokk
info@sapmirenovilt.se
www.sapmirenovilt.se

Brurskanken Rein AS
Gun Margret Utsi
Torstein Appfjell
Haustreisdalen, N - 8680 Trolbrs (Norway)
+47 75 18 14 55 /+47 911 40 733
post@brurskankenrein.no
www.brurskankenrein.no

Anders Skum Fjällvilt
Anders med familj
920 75 Ammarnäs
+46 70-600 6027
info@fjallvilt.se
www.fjallvilt.se

Jillie Ren och Vilt AB
Josefin Sandgren
Marcus Haanaes Rensberg
Industrivägen 21, 84096 Ljusnedal
+46 684 210 01
info@jillie.se
www.jillie.se
Coordinator

Anneli Jonsson
+46 706509793
anneli.jonsson@magnat.nu
info@slowfoodsapmi.com
This Presidium wishes to safeguard the traditional preparation of Suovas made only from the tender meat cut from the reindeer's inner loin (Coarbealli in Sami language) and brings together Suovas producers in Swedish Sápmi. Presidium Suovas is made from the meat of semi-wild animals that are slaughtered every autumn and winter; it is prepared throughout the year with the most traditional techniques of preparation, salting, smoking, and curing. The reindeer used to produce Presidium Suovas are not given any antibiotics or man-made feeds and graze entirely on the natural forage found in Sápmi. The Presidium, which it is hoped will eventually include all Sápmi producers, is working to raise awareness of this ancient cured meat and to encourage the consumption of reindeer meat instead of introducing ill-adapted domesticated animals that may harm this Arctic region's delicate ecosystem.

Production area
Swedish Sápmi

Presidium supported by
Sámiid Riikasearvi (Association for the Protection of Sámi Culture)
Lappalandsvilt AB
Andreas Lidström
Kajsa Fjellström
Järnvägsgatan 10,
912 34 Vilhelmina
+46 702531617
lapplandsvilt@live.se
www.viltprodukter.se

Renbiten AB
Helena Andersson
Peter Andersson
Grövelsjövägen 360,
79091 Idre
+46 253 23330 / +46 705 779376
info@renbiten.se
www.renbiten.se

Sapmi Ren och Vilt
Helena Länta
+46 70-273 75
Rickard Länta
+46 73-082 33 69
Per-oddvar Hansen
+46 76-812 56 91
Hantverkargatan 71
962 33 Jokkmokk
info@sapmirenovilt.se
www.sapmirenovilt.se

Brurskanken Rein AS
Gun Margret Utsi
Torstein Appfjell
Haustreisdalen, N - 8680 Trolbrs (Norway)
+47 75 18 14 55 /+47 911 40 733
post@brurskankenrein.no
www.brurskankenrein.no

Anders Skum Fjällvilt
Anders med familj
920 75 Ammarnäs
+46 70-600 6027
info@fjallvilt.se
www.fjallvilt.se

Jillie Ren och Vilt AB
Josefin Sandgren
Marcus Haanaes Rensberg
Industrivägen 21, 84096 Ljusnedal
+46 684 210 01
info@jillie.se
www.jillie.se
Coordinator

Anneli Jonsson
+46 706509793
anneli.jonsson@magnat.nu
info@slowfoodsapmi.com

Territory

StateSweden
RegionNorrbottens län

Other info

CategoriesCured meats and meat products