Mustamakkara is a Finnish sausage made with fresh pork blood, spices, and chopped rye. It is traditionally eaten with cranberry jam and is popular in Tampere, where vendors sell it at market stalls. Similar sausages are found in other countries, including blutwurst in Germany and boudin noir in France.
Mustamakkara, or musta makkara, is a Finnish sausage originating from the city of Tampere, Finland. Food industry experts can trace its origins back to at least the 16th century and it is still popular today. Mustamakkara literally translates to black sausage and is similar in color to eggplant. Typically, sausage makers use fresh pork blood, spices, and chopped rye to make it tender. People usually eat it hot and freshly made, but sometimes merchants sell it frozen, cured, or pre-cooked.
Although each sausage maker has its own recipe, the basic recipe for blood sausage includes uncoagulated blood from a freshly slaughtered pig. Since the blood must be very fresh, sausage makers produce the sausage on the day of slaughter. Cooks may keep fresh sausages refrigerated for a few days, but generally sausages are best eaten within a day or two. Most people prefer the taste of fresh sausage and find cured, pre-cooked or frozen mustamakkara taste different.
Many different countries have their own version of blood sausage, including verivorstid in Estonia. In Germany it is called blutwurst, in France it is boudin noir and in Spain it is morcila. The Portuguese have two versions and morcelas is darker than chourico mouro. In Cajun regions in the United States, it is called boudin rouge. In each country, the sausage mixture is stuffed into intestinal casings according to the traditional sausage making practice.
In Tampere, people usually eat mustamakkara with cranberry jam. Typically, when vendors sell the hot, freshly cooked sausages, they serve it on large squares of white paper with a large dollop of jam. In many markets around Tampere, such as in Tammela Square or Laukontori Market Square, rows of vendor trailers line the street and trucks from sausage factories deliver hot, fresh sausages to the vendors. During the summer and during the holidays, long lines of customers patiently wait for their chance to buy sausages. Finns eat it with almost every meal, including breakfast.
Although traditionally originating from Tampere, mustamakkara is now available in many parts of Finland. In Tampere, vendors sell the sausage at market stalls or carts that line the city streets, especially near the waterfront. When ordering sausage from vendors, a shopper typically orders by specifying how much money they’re willing to spend instead of ordering by weight.
For centuries, cooks have roasted mustamakkara sausages over open fires or in cauldrons. Usually in modern times, people fry sausages or grill them. Sometimes cooks roast them in the oven.
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