The History

Since the Age of Viking, there has been a connection between The Basque and the Norwegian people in the North of Norway.





It all began when the Basque whaling started with the catch of whales in their area, Bay of Biscaya.
They followed the whale route to Northern Norway and that was connected to natural compounds.
The Basque brought a lot of other stuff, including salt.
An important ingredient for preserving food.
The northerners used to dry fish, meat, berries, and herbs as the most important method of long-term storage of food. To access salt from the Basques was, therefore, one expansion of conservation of great importance.

What is a natural brand name for connecting the Basque and food from the Arctic: 

Arctic Viking Food

The word: Arctic, is chosen because the Arctic circle is a boundary where you are not allowed to use that term without you are situated north of the Arctic Circle. The word, Arctic, is a widely used keyword on the web.
The word: Viking, is an even more used keyword and strength Its position is strong due to several major comics and films about Vikings coming in the near future.

Basque Whalers and the Arctic Vikings

Basque whalers hunted whales in the Atlantic Ocean from 670 until 1713. The hunting grounds for this whaling included not only home in Bisqayabukta, but stretched all the way to Spitsbergen in the north and as far south as to Brazil.
Consequently, strong ties were established between the Arctic Vikings in northern Norway and the Basque whalers.
Experiences were exchanged in many practical areas of whaling and fisheries.
The absolute most important knowledge the Basques took from the Arctic Viking was how to build seagoing ships. It was only the Vikings who could build such ships at that time.
It was on their journey to northern Norway that the Basques discovered the wandering fish, Skrei, Gadus morhua. They followed the Viking routes and became aware of the walking pattern of Skreien. It covered the entire northern hemisphere.
They followed the Vikings to Newfoundland. It became Basque's main fishing areas for Skrei, Gadus Morhua. And also their secret. No one in Europe could understand how the Basques could find such amounts with Skrei.
The baskets had salt. They spotted the ship and salted it aboard the boats. Carried it to Basque Country and had control of the sales of all salted fish in Europe for hundreds of years.
The baskets have always been, and are still very capable of associating alliances instead of starting wars. Such an alliance with the Catholic Church for hundreds of years was an important factor in preserving the hegemony of salted fish sales. It is also the cultural background for why Salt Skrei is strongly rooted in the food culture of the Iberian Peninsula, Spain, Portugal.

Eubalaena glacialis, Nordkaper or North Atlantic justice is one of two barde whales in the legacy game. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Atlantic_right_whale
Eubalaena glacialis was the whale of the Basques hunted, see the extent of it in the picture below:

Basque Country and Newfoundland are marked in red
Nordkaper can weigh up to 100 tons and has the property that it flows when it is dead. Therefore, it was also a species that was possible to hunt for.

Arctic Viking Food: Preserving

Skrei, Gadus morhua, drying on "Fiskehjell"  Røst, Lofoten

Preserving food has always been important for survival. In Norway, it has been a tradition to dry food. Fish in general and Skrei, Gadus morhua, especially because of the huge quantity arriving every winter. 
From January to April, the Skrei from the Barents Sea came to spawn along the coast of North Norway. 

Skrei: Gadus morhua

We do not know exactly when drying fish, meat and herbs. But we certainly know that The Arctic Vikings brought it with them when they went on expeditions.
Both as food and as trading goods.
The Arctic Viking had its trade routes mostly to the east. The Gardarik was the name of the geographical area. Russia and Ukraine with the cities of Novgorod and Kiev. 
The Arctic Vikings did not only go east. The Basque arrived the North Norwegian coast year 700 hunting for whales, Eubalaena glacialis was preferred. They brought something to the Vikings of crucial importance for preserving foods. 
The Salt. It changed everything. And the combination of salting and drying the Skrei on the rocks created a new amazing food: Klippfisk, clipfish.
The Arctic Vikings taught the Basque how to build ships in exchange. This made the Basque able to cross the oceans and they discovered New Foundland and America. In fact they hunted whales as far as Brazil. 

The Arctic Viking connection with the Basque remained for several centuries. Their commen interest for fishing and building boats was the main links, but also trading other goods was part of this cooperate.
Preserving fish, meat and fruits in the more modern way by glass and heating became an important part of the North Norwegian kitchen. 
In 1882 the preserving company, Bjelland, was established in Stavanger. It became the leading preserving company in Scandinavia in the end of 1800

It was established preserving factories all along the coastline of Norway. And became one of the leading industries during 1900. With a lot of people working in this factories.

It is time to give new birth to the Norwegian preserving industry. Not only for the food from sea but also Norwegian fruit, berry, vegetables and not to forget meat. 

It is just a matter of new packaging, design, and marketing. Looking to the market in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France this is a huge market.

And it is a question of cooperation with partners in the preserving industries in one or several of this countries.

Curiosity
Preserve eggs, especially from seagulls, in marshes was also very common in North of Norway

Lingonberry, Vaccinium Vitis-idea, was preserved because of the natural content of preservation.
It was stored in wooden buckets in the cranny which was common in every household by the farmers and fishermen.

Multer, Rubus chamaemorus, was also stored in wooden buckets in the cranny.