Talk:Semla

Strawberries or not?
"In Finland, the bun is sometimes filled with strawberry jam instead of almond paste" The Swedish version says that it's often "hallonsylt" (Raspberry jam). Neither is sourced. Which is correct? Ran4 (talk) 08:52, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

Mandelmassa
Semlor are usually not eaten with marzipan, but rather with "mandelmassa", a grainier almond paste similar to marzipan, but with a lower sugar content and without artificial food dyes. I'm not sure if replacing "marzipan" in this text with something else would be constructive, though, as I can't seem to find a good word for this in English, and no other article in wikipedia that matches. There doesn't seem to be an established term.

-- 193.11.221.16 19:57, 24 Nov 2004 (UTC)


 * Just plain "almond paste" should do. It's not any specific variant.
 * Bo Lindbergh 05:02, 2005 Feb 12 (UTC)


 * But "almond paste" is usually without sugar. "mandelmassa" is 50% almond and 50% sugar.
 * marcus 2006 Feb 28 (the Shrove Tuesday!)
 * But marzipane is only 4-6% almond according to the Wikipedia article on it.Mackan 14:45, 18 July 2006 (UTC)
 * "Sugared almond paste"? 惑乱 分からん 15:42, 6 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Why not "almond paste with 50% sugar and 50% almond"? If there's no word for it, just write what it is? 83.254.64.19 (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 12:59, 28 January 2008 (UTC)

Almond paste? Mandelmassa is required to have at least 50% almond content. // Liftarn (talk) 15:49, 7 February 2008 (UTC)

Availability
"Although the traditional day to consume the semla is Shrove Tuesday, they are nowadays seasonally available from New Year's until the start of Lent."

Shouldn't it be "until the start of Easter"? Sure they must be available all through Lent? (That's at least the time I eat them, but usually home-made) — Preceding unsigned comment added by X-Flare-x (talk • contribs) 21:47, 1 April 2006 (UTC)


 * This is unfortunately correct. Many (most Swedes these days) misunderstand semmeldagen to be the start of semmeldagen instead of what it actually is, the last chance to eat semlor before Lent. Jikybebna (talk) 10:38, 3 February 2023 (UTC)

New picture
Couldn't somebody living in Sweden try and find a better picture of a semla? The ones you buy at a "conditori" look alot more appetizing, and are also more representational, than the current picture. Mackan 14:37, 18 July 2006 (UTC)
 * This for example is a pretty good photo: or this [] — Preceding unsigned comment added by G72562 (talk • contribs) 14:39, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

Finland-Swedish
I think that in Finland-Swedish, "semla" refers to another pastry, possibly a sandwich or something like that... 惑乱 分からん 15:42, 6 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Yes, that is right. It basically means (roughly) a bread roll, probably close to what in rikssvenska would be called a småfranska. 94pjg 21:45, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

What is a WEDG ???
The text "(also known as hetvägg from the german heisse wecken meaning hot wedg)" is very questionable. Apparently it tries to clairfy the origin of the Swedish term "hetvägg", which literally translates to "hot wall". To me it seems that "heisse wecken" translates to "hot roll", which makes sense considering that a roll is a bun. What is "wedg"? It is not a proper English word. What does "wedg" have to do with Wecken and/or "vägg"? BTW, "wecken" should be capitalized, since it is a German noun, i.e. "heisse Wecken".

Update: I found two good sources and will update the text accordingly:

"Hetvägg is the oldest name, from middle German "hete weggen" = hot wedges or "heisse wecken" = hot buns." http://www.rootsweb.com/~swewgw/Fact/Cult/facCulTrad02.htm http://www.nordiskamuseet.se/makeframeset.asp?sUrl=http%3A//www.nordiskamuseet.se/publication.asp%3Fpublicationid%3D1437&Cat=&catName=&publicationid=1437

—Preceding unsigned comment added by Pnnielsen (talk • contribs) 19:59, 6 November 2007 (UTC)

Serbia?
I think the Danish name 'fastelavnsbolle' is not used in Serbia. Maybe Serbia (and Ethiopia?) has been put here by some vandal.82.181.153.142 (talk) 17:24, 5 February 2008 (UTC)

Danish fastelavnsbolle
The homemade Danish fastelavnsbolle is usually a wheat bun baked with vanillaflavoured custard or jam inside. I have never seen them with raisins etc. and don't know of any Danish recipes for fastelavnsbolle which include those flavors. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.201.2.188 (talk) 17:26, 26 January 2013 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 2 external links on Semla. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110606090150/http://www.sweden.se/eng/Home/Lifestyle/Traditions/Reading/Swedish-semla-more-than-just-a-bun/ to http://www.sweden.se/eng/Home/Lifestyle/Traditions/Reading/Swedish-semla-more-than-just-a-bun/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120114060441/http://www.hel2.fi/kaumuseo/vuodenkierto/laskiainen/laskiainen.html to http://www.hel2.fi/kaumuseo/vuodenkierto/laskiainen/laskiainen.html

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Semla is not the same as fastelavnsbolle
I'm not sure, why semla and fastelavnsboller are mixed together here, but they are not the same. You could perhaps argue that semla is a type of fastelavnsbolle, but Fastelavn is not a tradition in Sweden, and fastelavnsbolle is not a type of semla. In other words fastelavnsboller should be removed from this page, or semla should be a subsection of fastelavnsbolle.Kisualk (talk) 19:24, 13 February 2021 (UTC)

Semla is Swedish. Has nothing to do with Icelandic bollur.
You can't name this article Semlor and then make a reference to Icelandic bolludagur. I suppose you could name this article Nordic Sweet rolls and make it about the various traditions but calling Bollur in Iceland Semlor is just nonsense. 46.22.110.57 (talk) 21:27, 25 February 2022 (UTC)

Death of King Adolf Frederick of Sweden
This section appears on this page:

"King Adolf Frederick of Sweden died of digestion problems on February 12, 1771, after consuming a meal consisting of lobster, caviar, sauerkraut, smoked herring and champagne, which was topped off by a helping of hetvägg (semla), the king's favorite dessert."

This appears to disagree with the wiki page for King Adolf Frederick of Sweden:

"Adolf Frederick died suddenly in Stockholm on 12 February 1771 with symptoms resembling either heart failure or poisoning. Popular stories about his death having resulted from a large meal (consisting of lobster, caviar, sauerkraut, kippers and champagne and his favourite dessert hetvägg of semla pastries and hot milk) are considered propagandist by modern writers."

I'm not sure which is correct, but clearly at least one of these is wrong. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:1702:3D40:1330:8F74:EE18:1B73:D0C4 (talk) 00:41, 3 March 2022 (UTC)

A fralla is not a Semla / faslagsbulle... A fralla is just a round crispy white bread — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2003:E2:BF34:C144:C1E:9330:1876:5695 (talk) 11:46, 25 November 2022 (UTC)

"Fat Tuesday roll"
I accidentally hit return as I was typing in the changelog.

The French phrase Mardi Gras literally means "fet tisdag" in Swedish, and Mardi Gras is the name for "fettisdagen" that is familiar to most anglophone readers. Writing "fat Tuesday roll" is a misleading joke since "fat Tuesday" isn't a thing for most anglophone readers. Searching for fat Tuesday on Wikipedia brings up Mardi Gras. Jikybebna (talk) 10:37, 3 February 2023 (UTC)


 * @Jikybebna I was going to make a separate topic for this, but in any case:
 * First, the common English term for this day is, if not Pancake Day, actually Shrove Tuesday. The article itself also uses the Shrove Tuesday term.
 * Second, though Mardi Gras does literally mean "fat Tuesday" in French, the reason this term is familiar for Anglophone readers is likely because of the extravagant Mardi Gras celebrations in (usually) the Americas. It can be actually preferable to distinguish between the mental image most have of Mardi Gras from the Fastelavn celebrations that semlor would actually be involved in. Yo.dazo (talk) 22:38, 10 May 2023 (UTC)
 * Shrove Tuesday is OK. "Fat Tuesday" is not. Jikybebna (talk) 14:40, 11 May 2023 (UTC)
 * @Jikybebna This would, of course, need elaboration, as it's not really that obvious why "Fat Tuesday" is not a good literal translation for "fettisdag". Yo.dazo (talk) 15:34, 11 May 2023 (UTC)
 * It is an overly literal calque which reads as parodic and mocking. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BlindIdiotTranslation Like translating "julgran" as "Chris Pine" or "morot" as "funny root". Prefer Mardi Gras, in conjunction with Shrove Tuesday. It's not right for the article to make of a goofy and patronizing new phrase when several phrases for it already exist in English. Yes, fettisdagen in Sweden is different from Mardi Gras in Louisiana, it would be odd if it weren't, but it's the closest they've got. Jikybebna (talk) 17:26, 11 May 2023 (UTC)
 * @Jikybebna I would have to disagree. It may be a calque, but then it's a calque that's been in use since 1866 (according to Merriam-Webster, at least.) To me at least, it also doesn't seem parodic when the "fat" in both Mardi Gras and Fat Tuesday refers to the cooking fats that are traditionally abstained in during Lent — as in, "Ash Wednesday is coming, so we have to use up all of the fat in the pantry by Tuesday." Yo.dazo (talk) 03:17, 21 May 2023 (UTC)
 * Shrove Tuesday, which is a historical name, is a much better name for it than "Fat Tuesday" which is overly literal. Swedes wouldn't write "kristmässa" for "Christmas", or "gående-en-väg nutid" for "going-away present". That would be a mockery of English. Same here in reverse. Jikybebna (talk) 07:59, 21 May 2023 (UTC)