''Rúgbrauð'' () is an

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

ic straight

rye bread Rye bread is a type of bread made with various proportions of flour from rye grain. It can be light or dark in color, depending on the type of flour used and the addition of coloring agents, and is typically denser than bread made from wheat f ...

. It is traditionally baked in a pot or steamed in special wooden

cask A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, u ...

s by burying it in the ground near a

geyser A geyser (, ) is a spring characterized by an intermittent discharge of water ejected turbulently and accompanied by steam. As a fairly rare phenomenon, the formation of geysers is due to particular hydrogeological conditions that exist only in ...

, in which case it is known as ''hverabrauð'' or "hot-spring-bread". Modern ''rúgbrauð'' is usually made in a square baking pan. The bread is crustless, dark and very dense, usually rather sweet, and keeps for a long time. It is often served with

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 80% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread, melted as a condiment ...

mutton Lamb, hogget, and mutton, generically sheep meat, are the meat of domestic sheep, ''Ovis aries''. A sheep in its first year is a lamb and its meat is also lamb. The meat from sheep in their second year is hogget. Older sheep meat is mutton. Gen ...

pâté ''Pâté'' ( , , ) is a paste, pie or loaf filled with a forcemeat. Common forcemeats include ground meat from pork, poultry, fish or beef; fat, vegetables, herbs, spices and either wine or brandy (often cognac or armagnac). It is often served ...

hangikjöt Hangikjöt (; lit. "hung meat") is a traditional festive food in Iceland, served at Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebrat ...

(smoked lamb), or with

pickled herring Pickled herring is a traditional way of preserving herring as food by pickling or curing. Most cured herring uses a two-step curing process: it is first cured with salt to extract water; then the salt is removed and the herring is brined in ...

. Dry ''rúgbrauð'' would be ground and mixed with

buttermilk Buttermilk is a fermented dairy drink. Traditionally, it was the liquid left behind after churning butter out of cultured cream. As most modern butter in western countries is not made with cultured cream but uncultured sweet cream, most mod ...

to form a kind of

porridge Porridge is a food made by heating or boiling ground, crushed or chopped starchy plants, typically grain, in milk or water. It is often cooked or served with added flavourings such as sugar, honey, (dried) fruit or syrup to make a sweet cereal, ...

. Stale ''rúgbrauð'' is often soaked, then made into ''brauðsúpa'' (, "bread soup") - that is, simmered with raisins and flavorings (usually lemon) and served hot with whipped cream as a dessert. Excessive consumption of this bread is said to cause

flatulence Flatulence, in humans, is the expulsion of gas from the intestines via the anus, commonly referred to as farting. "Flatus" is the medical word for gas generated in the stomach or bowels. A proportion of intestinal gas may be swallowed environm ...

, earning it its nickname ''þrumari'' which roughly translates as "thunderbread" or "thunderer". There are, however, varieties of the traditional rye bread with

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

and whole

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...

added to make it less dense, but also called ''rúgbrauð''. These varieties tend to be less heavy than the traditional straight rye variety and more similar to the modern Danish

rugbrød () is a very common form of rye bread from Denmark. usually resembles a long brown extruded rectangle, no more than 12 cm high, and 30–35 cm wide, depending on the bread pan in which it is baked. The basic ingredient is rye flour ...

or German

pumpernickel Pumpernickel (; ) is a typically heavy, slightly sweet rye bread traditionally made with sourdough starter and coarsely ground rye. It is sometimes made with a combination of rye flour and whole rye grains ("rye berries"). At one time it was ...

. Rye, produced in

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

and exported to Iceland, became the predominant

cereal A cereal is any Poaceae, grass cultivated for the edible components of its grain (botanically, a type of fruit called a caryopsis), composed of the endosperm, Cereal germ, germ, and bran. Cereal Grain, grain crops are grown in greater quantit ...

Icelandic cuisine ''Randabrauð'', the cuisine of Iceland, has a long history. Important parts of Icelandic cuisine are lamb, dairy, and fish, the latter due to the fact that Iceland has traditionally been inhabited only near its coastline. Popular foods in Icel ...

in the early modern period after a trade

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...

was instituted by the

king of Denmark The monarchy of Denmark is a constitutional political system, institution and a historic office of the Kingdom of Denmark. The Kingdom includes Denmark proper and the autonomous administrative division, autonomous territories of the Faroe ...

in 1602, remaining in vigor until 1786. In September 2022, American

seismologist Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes and the propagation of elastic waves through the Earth or through other ...

Dr. Julian Lozos attempted to bake rúgbrauð in his car during a heatwave in the

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...

. Whilst unsuccessful, Lozos' attempt was covered in the Icelandic press and earned him an interview with

Ryan Seacrest Ryan John Seacrest (born December 24, 1974) is an American media personality and producer. He is the co-host of ''Live with Kelly and Ryan'', as well as the host of multiple media shows including ''American Idol'', ''American Top 40'', and '' ...

References

See also