curd

If you ask somebody from Iceland what food from home they miss most when they're away for prolonged periods, an answer you're really likely to hear is "Skyr!" (It rhymes with "hear", by the way.)

This is one of the oldest continuously-eaten foods in the world, dating straight back to the Viking days -- a reminder of the times when those Scandinavian peoples known for going out viking* were still depending on cattle for milk and meat. (Later they went in more for sheep.) Skyr is sometimes incorrectly translated as "Icelandic curds", giving people the erroneous idea that it's something like cottage cheese. Others refer to it as a yogurt, but it's not that, either: the organism used to culture the milk is different, and the setting agent is rennet -- another indicator that this product goes back to the days when the people who devised it were working with cows rather than sheep, as rennet used to be made from calves' stomachs. (These days it's produced artificially from vegetable sources.) Because a setting agent is used in making it, skyr is officially a kind of cheese.

But why get all hung up on the definitions? Skyr is tasty -- its refreshing, slightly tart flavor is similar to créme fraiche, though its sourness is a little more delicate. (This makes it particularly good with fresh fruit.) It's low-fat, easy to digest, and amenable to being flavored in all kinds of ways... so it's no surprise that skyr is one of the most popular foods in Iceland. There are many national brands (and most of them have websites: you can see a typical one here, or look at Skyr.net's informational site for links to others).