Indulgences

1. snaps

   Snaps — Nordic spiced spirit

   Usage

   A Northern European type of brændevin (spirit), distilled from a fermented grain or potato mash and flavoured with herbs. In a Danish context snaps, brændevin and akvavit are treated as broadly synonymous. Both commercial and home-made versions exist; it is drunk with marinated herring at the julefrokost

   Grammar Note

   Common gender (en snaps), definite snapsen, plural snapse. en snaps also means one shot of it

2. akvavit

   Akvavit — caraway-flavoured Nordic spirit

   Usage

   A herb-flavoured spirit distilled from a mash brewed on potatoes or malt, usually diluted to about 35-45%. brændevin is the old Nordic cover term for the same thing; today akvavit or snaps are the precise words

   Grammar Note

   Common gender (en akvavit), definite akvavitten with a doubled t. From Latin aqua vitae, "water of life"

3. Gammel Dansk

   Gammel Dansk — Danish herbal bitter

   Usage

   A Danish bitter made from about a dozen herbs, with rowan (røn) prominent, and known for its strong, long bitter finish. It is famous as a morgenbitter, drunk in the morning. Production began at De Danske Spritfabrikker in Roskilde in 1964, moved to Aalborg in 1994 and has been in Norway since 2015. Do not confuse it with Gammeldansk, which means the Old Danish language

   Grammar Note

   A brand name, so both words are capitalised. gammel means old and dansk means Danish

4. lakrids

   Liquorice

   Usage

   A mainstay of the Danish sweet counter, in black, red and salt varieties. The black kind is made by evaporating a water extract of liquorice root, mixed with liquorice powder, sugar or syrup, starch and either ammonium chloride (salmiak) or anise. The glycyrrhizic acid it contains affects blood pressure, so people with hypertension should go easy on it

   Grammar Note

   This word is used with two genders — neuter lakridset and common gender lakridsen — with the plural lakridser

5. saltlakrids

   Salt liquorice (salmiak liquorice)

   Usage

   The sweet that surprises visitors most. It is ordinary liquorice with up to 8% ammonium chloride (salmiak) added — and it contains no table salt (sodium chloride) at all. Ammonium chloride has a sharp taste faintly like salt, and the lower sugar content leaves it unmasked. It is almost always black or dark brown and ranges from very soft to brittle. Also called salmiaklakrids

   Grammar Note

   From salt + lakrids; like lakrids it is used with two genders

6. flødebolle

   Flødebolle — chocolate-coated marshmallow foam on a wafer

   Usage

   A wafer base topped with a light foam of whipped, sugared egg white and coated in chocolate; rolled in desiccated coconut it becomes a kokosbolle. The first Danish producer was Elvirasminde in Aarhus in the winter of 1905-06. Around 800 million are made in Denmark each year, and a birthday child traditionally hands them out at school. Older names for it include a word now regarded as discriminatory — use flødebolle

   Grammar Note

   Common gender (en flødebolle), definite flødebollen, plural flødeboller. From fløde (cream) + bolle (bun, ball)

7. marcipan

   Marzipan

   Usage

   A paste of ground almonds and sugar; its characteristic flavour comes from bitter almonds, typically 4-6% of the total almond weight. It is used in confectionery, ice cream and the remonce filling of pastries, and is the main component of kransekage, the ring-tower almond cake eaten at New Year and weddings. Baking marzipan (bagemarcipan) also contains apricot kernels

   Grammar Note

   Common gender (en marcipan); it has no plural

8. cigaretter

   Cigarettes

   Usage

   Finely cut tobacco (tobak) rolled in paper impregnated with saltpetre so that it keeps burning by itself; sold with and without a filter. They are bought in kiosks and supermarkets, and the plural cigaretter is the usual form to ask for at the counter

   Grammar Note

   Singular en cigaret (common gender), definite cigaretten, plural cigaretter, definite plural cigaretterne; the t doubles before an ending

9. nikotinposer

   Nicotine pouches

   Usage

   Small oblong pouches containing nicotine, placed between the gum and the cheek or upper lip so that nicotine is absorbed through the mucous membrane. They are widely sold in Danish supermarkets and kiosks. Nicotine is strongly addictive; strength varies by product and prolonged use can cause receding gums. Selling them to minors is prohibited in Denmark. They differ from snus, though the two words are increasingly used interchangeably

   Grammar Note

   Singular en nikotinpose (common gender), plural nikotinposer. From nikotin (nicotine) + pose (pouch; en pose)

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