Every culture has its strange food that is used to scare away the foreigners. In Sweden, it’s surströmming. (Surströmming is even classified as hazardous material by some airlines.) And, you know, when you dig into your plate of surströmming, I bet the first thing that goes through your mind is, “Wow, this would go great with some ice cream.”

Well, your wish has been answered. Surströmmingsglassen är här.

Surströmming ice cream is here

(Caption: Ice cream with Västerbotten cheese, cloudberry, and flatbread.)

Let’s see. A carton of Rocky Road, a little Cookie Dough, a Stracciatella, and… mmm… surströmming. No really, soon you will find it in the frozen food aisle. Surströmming ice cream, brought to you by cook Peter Öhmann, is intended as a dessert plate served with deep-fried Västerbotten cheese, deep-fried parsley, warm cloudberries, and a stick of flatbread. It is expected to be available for purchase starting in December 2007, according to the Surströmming Society’s chairman Ruben Madsen. He believes that the ice cream can beat out fish preserves. “Ice cream has no aroma, just taste.”

But don’t hold your breath; you won’t be able to get it until December. On the other hand, given the strong aroma of surströmming, maybe you should hold your breath after all.