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Baltic herring caught before spawning are bled in strong brine, gilled and partly gutted, then fermented in lidded barrels of weaker brine for six to eight weeks. The fish are canned with their brine and keep fermenting in the can, which swells with gas. Made in 7 steps over 5.4 months – 5.9 months. The longest step, keep chilled while it ripens in the can, takes up to 4 months (Livsmedelsverket 2025) and runs at up to 8 °C (Livsmedelsverket 2025). Salt is 26 % (Livsmedelsverket 2025). Haloanaerobium praevalens and H. alcaliphilum and Tetragenococcus halophilus do most of the fermenting.
Amounts from a sourceAmounts are from the Swedish Food Agency's example process and HACCP plan for a surströmming plant. Fish, water and salt are the only ingredients.
2 parts
Fresh Baltic herring, iced and sorted by size[lv-process]
1 part
Saturated brine (359 g salt in 1 litre of water) for the bleeding step[lv-process]
To a final 8.5–10 °Baumé
Fermenting brine of 12 °Baumé (135 g salt per litre) · Brine must stay at 8 °Baumé or above during storage[lv-process][lv-limits]
Starter
spontaneous
Total time across the recorded steps: 5.4 months – 5.9 months
Start
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What changes:Starting material: lean Baltic herring caught in spring before they spawn
Step 1 of 7
Catch the herring before spawning
Time
Spring until midsummer; a royal ordinance names herring caught in April and May
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
T. halophilus
Lactobacilli
Output: fresh herring, sorted by size and iced.
Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented
Microbes at work in this step
Not documented for this step.
Method
Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source
What makes this one different
Surströmming is fermented in lighter brine than salted herring and is canned while still active, so gas keeps forming in the can. It stays close to neutral, pH 6.5–7.0, and relies on salt above 8–10 % plus chilling; rakfisk uses far less salt and depends on the cold.
Barrel surströmming (historical)Sold from wooden barrels and kegs before canning.
Safety
The Swedish Food Agency considers surströmming safe against botulism mainly because its salt stays above 8–10 % w/w and it is kept chilled; brine below 8 °Baumé during storage is a critical failure. Each barrel must ferment at least 6 weeks to kill parasites. A swollen can is normal here, but a leaking can is not and must be thrown away. Keep cans at +8 °C or colder. Baltic herring can carry dioxins and PCBs, so the agency advises risk groups to limit fatty Baltic fish.
Hazards the sources name: Clostridium botulinum spores, expected in small numbers and held back by brine of at least 8 °Baumé; no toxin genes found in 15 cans; Listeria monocytogenes (pH and water activity allow growth in theory; absent in 15 cans); Salt-tolerant Staphylococcus aureus (not known to have caused outbreaks).
Surströmming developed on the Swedish shore of the Gulf of Bothnia by the 16th century, probably because salt was scarce. Pits of fermented fish about 9,200 years old at Norje Sunnansund in southern Sweden are the oldest known evidence of fish fermentation.