Alex, Greg, Georgia and Patrick joined us a couple of days ago for a sailing holiday. So far we have managed 50% of that – holiday, yes, sailing no. The weather has just decided not to oblige so we have managed to find other things to do. The first day we did some walking and a lot of eating and chatting. The second day Alex ran us down to Klädesholmen in his hire car and we met up with Simon and Louise on Aloucia. We then walked from the Kladesholmen guest harbour across to Salt & Sill to try their herring lunch. This started with pickled herring – lots of it.
Pickled herring is a staple part of any Swedish culinary event. They have been pickling herring since the Middle Ages as it has been a very effective way of preserving it for transport and for subsequent consumption. Klädesholmen was a huge centre for the herring industry. Perhaps the peak time was the Great Herring period of 1748-1808. During this time nearly 1,000 people lived on the island and caught and processed vast quantities of what the Scottish termed “silver darlings”. In a good year around 250,000 tonnes of herring would be caught around Klädesholmen. When you realise that this is the same quantity which was caught by the entire Swedish fishing fleet in the mid-1960s, you can start to see the economic importance of the trade for the development of the island.
Around the end of the 19th century was another prolific herring period. The fishermen of Klädesholmen then got more creative about how they processed and sold the herring they were catching. Many of the fishermen bought boats,called “Silljakt” (Herring boats), and they then sailed around selling a range of products; things like herring in brine, spiced herring and stockfish directly from the boats. By the early 1930s, there were nearly sixty “silljakter” on Klädesholmen and they headed all around Sweden to sell their wares. They went as far north as Strömstad (on the Norwegian border), Haparanda (in the north of the Gulf of Bothnia and even through the Göta Canal and into Lake Mälaren.
As retail standards changed there was a shift towards increased canning to maintain standards and by 1950 there were about 25 canneries and 150 fishermen on Klädesholmen. This is all the more remarkable when you think that the island was only connected to the mainland by a bridge in 1983. The development of the herring industry and infrastructure depended far more on the quality of the harbours than their connectivity. By 2000 there were just a few surviving canneries on the island and so four of them merged to form Klädesholmen Seafood AB which is now produces more than half the edible herring in Sweden.
Klädesholmen is apparently particularly busy on June 6th each year. This is is Sweden’s National Day, but far more importantly is Herring Day! On this day a local jury selects the Herring of the Year. This title could perhaps be misconstrued as it is not some sort of Herring’s Got Talent competition for individual herring to perform in, but a herring preserve. The chefs at Salt & Sill create four different preserves and a jury selects the Herring of the Year. This will then be created by the cannery and for each can of herring sold, 1 kroner goes to the Swedish Maritime Rescue Society – this definitely sound like something the RNLI could learn from! In 2010 the winning herring was mustard and malt whisky and this was on the menu for our herring lunch. Other winners include cranberry and lemon thyme (2012), bacon and horseradish (2013), gin and elderberry (2020) and the most recent was thyme and cranberry (2024).