Danish Koldskål
This is a traditional Danish dish served in the summertime. I recall having this either as a dessert, breakfast or even as a light dinner on a warm summer evening. I don’t think my husband and son would easily accept this as a dinner dish…. what, where is the meat 🙂 ….but I actually think this makes a perfect dinner because it’s so refreshing and light, especially in 90 degree weather. Some make this with eggs but I prefer to leave them out. You can also add vanilla sugar and lemon for added flavor. Buttermilk has a tangy flavor which is offset by the sugar. It has high levels of lactic acid which makes it’s easily digested and increases the absorption of calcium. Serve this refreshing dish cold with your choice of topping.
Koldskål ingredients
Koldskål – 3 servings
Ingredients:
2 cups buttermilk
1 cup plain nonfat yogurt
3 – 4 tablespoons sugar
Directions:
Whip buttermilk, yogurt and sugar together. Serve very cold with a topping of your choice.
Toppings:
Kammerjunker – sweet cookies typically served with Koldskål
fresh fruit (sliced strawberries, raspberries, peaches)
biscotti
toasted oatmeal (toast on pan; 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1-2 tbsp butter, sliced almonds or hazelnuts, careful not to burn)
tvebakker – twice baked cookies popular during WWII
Koldskål
Source: My Danish Kitchen
My Danish Kitchen 
I have discovered that homemade kefir mixed with milk tastes just like koldskaal ☺ I guess it gets the right light tang from the kefir. I love it!
Born and raised in Denmark I would say, the English name world be more like, Buttermilk Cold Cheers.
This dish also needs vanilla, egg yolk and lemon juice.
Tina, born and raised in Denmark as well. If you read the write-up you will notice that I talk about eggs, vanilla and lemon juice. This is how I prefer to make Koldskål.
this is great, I just tasted some NILLA cookies and they just reminded me of kammerjunker….
I’m born and raised in DK but live in NC now.
I think your right, Nilla cookies is probably the closest thing to a Kammerjunker.
YUM! I am so ecstatic that I found your blog/this recipe! I am definitely going to make this at some point this week. 🙂 It sounds silly, but I studied abroad in Denmark and really miss the food.
Thank you….I’ve been looking for this recipe =) I had this while I was a foreign exchange student in Denmark and I have the recipe – in Danish xD My host parents used the eggs in it – do I just whip them in at the same time as the other ingredients or whip them first and add to the other ingredients? And about how many eggs should I use?
This is a tricky question because I never use eggs when I make Koldskål. If you do, make sure to use pasteurized eggs, not raw. I looked at some different recipes that use eggs and it gets tricky because of conversion from liters and ingredients not found in the States. They use Ymer or Tykmælk which you can probably substitute with greek yogurt, although greek yogurt is thicker. The portions are very large but can be cut in half so try something like: 16 oz buttermilk, 10-16 oz greek yogurt, 2 pasteurized egg yolks and 1-2 tablespoon sugar (start with 1 tablespoon sugar and see how that works), vanilla and lemon juice. You’ll want to beat the eggs and sugar until white and thick and then beat in the remaining ingredients and you can always adjust the sugar to your liking and use the greek yogurt until you get the consistancy you want. Now carry in mind that I have never made Koldskål with eggs myself, so this is me “guesstimating” from looking at other Danish web sites. If you read Danish I’ll be more that happy to link you to some of those sites. Make sure to serve it very cold. Have fun with it!
Just from the sounds of, your recipe will probably be much easier. I read a little bit of Danish, but not so well when it comes to recipes. Unfortunately, I know more conversational Danish than foods but I can try! Again, thank you so much for putting this website up!
Nice blog! How does this (Kærnemælk) Koldskål compare with Ymer Koldskål. I recall (from living in DK during my childhood) that Ymer made Koldskål sooooooo much better and creamier and kærnemælk koldskål also is a more runny and bland.
Is there a simple recipe for Ymer (I read on arla.com that Ymer only exists in DK?!? That can’t be true… 😦 ) because with a liter Ymer, 2 dl sugar, 2 pasteurized egg-yokes and a pinch of vanilla extract, the MOST AMAZING ymer koldskål comes to life.
I will give your koldskål a try…. thank you!
Kærnemælk it thinner than Ymer, that is correct. I don’t know if it’t true that Ymer only exist in Denmark, but I do know, that I have never been able to find it here where I live in the US. You could add some Greek Yogurt to your Kærnemælk koldskål to make it thicker, however, you may have to adjust your sugar since plain Greek Yogurt can be a little on the tart side. Thank you for your nice comment about the blog, I am so glad you’re enjoying it. 🙂
I’m so happy to have found your blog, I love koldskaal but havn’t really made my own before, I usually got it from the store back in DK, It’s one of those things I miss from DK, Now that I ran into your recipe I’m definitely going to make my own, can’t wait 🙂 I’m going to look around on your blog, I hope you have some good bread recipe on it, I miss me some good danish bread 🙂
Monica:)
Uhh I’m affraid there isn’t a lot of bread on my blog yet, although it is on my very very long to do list somewhere 🙂
I’ve been enjoying this a lot lately. We used to have this in the summer when it was really hot out. I remember it as a big treat. But, I make mine the way my mom made it.
2 tbsp. sour cream, 1 tsp. sugar, stirred together, than add one cup buttermilk, stir together and eat, either plain or with some cereal on top. It makes a great breakfast, lunch or light dinner.
By the way, my older sister is named Gitte as well.
Now, I’m going to go and explore the rest of your blog. By the way I spotted this on Foodgawker.
Hi! It was a real pleasure to read the recipe for this traditional Dish. I am an amateur – collector of old, traditional recipes from Northern – Central – Eastern Europe. I would never think of cold sweet soup. That’s sound interesting and thanks a lot for sharing – I bookmarked this. In Poland, where I come from , the most popular cold soup is made from kefir/youghurt/soured milk and so on mixed with young beets, cucumbers, chives and dill ( I presented it on my blog a few weeks ago).
Mmm koldskål, I think I’ll make some for dinner with banana and müsli 🙂
I’m so happy I found your blog, love all your recipes and congratulations on making it to the top 9 today!
Wow I just found out that my Koldskål dish made Top 9 on FoodBuzz 🙂 I am so honored and I can hardly believe it. We are celebrating it with an ice cream float. Thank you for all the nice comments everyone.
This sounds light and refreshing! Yumm.
Northern Europe really knows how to kick up breakfast/dinner. From Swedish Musli to Danish Koldskal… yummy… so much better then corn flakes… I know you said this could be for dinner but I am sure plenty of us had cereal for dinner at some time in our lives… so what is Koldskal mean? I can imagine what Kold means, I hope it is the same but what about skal?
Well, if you break the word down it could be a cold bowl or a cold cheers. The cold bowl is probably more correct. This is so refreshing and cooling in hot weather, and a cinch to make. Thanks for your comment Kathy 🙂