Nothing sums up Scandinavian cuisine better than Scandinavian berries, which ripen slowly during the cool summers and are full of sweet, health-giving and flavorful juiciness.
Berries are the jewels in the crown of northern eating, adorning everyday meals – as lingonberries on the morning oatmeal or with veal, game, roasts or fish, as blueberries simply eaten with cream, or as strawberries and raspberries in every possible cake and dessert during their brief season.
The abundance of berries with all their nutritional virtues has undoubtedly kept us healthy during long winters; and their ability, sweetness and tartness has balanced the fare of heavy meals and abundant animal fat over thousands of years. But berries offer far more than health hype; they are the focus of countless trips to heaths and woods, where the whole family gathers berries for the winter season, and their beauty is beyond compare.
Related: Scandinavian Plum
Absolutely no other food is so inviting as freshly picked berries – children should be allowed to gorge on these little globes of concentrated sunshine to their heart’s delight. Some of them are unobtainable in the shops, or costly, and rightly so. Blueberries, lingonberries, wood strawberries and cloudberries are still picked from the wild.
The small and incredibly aromatic åkerbär or Arctic raspberry is found only on the high ground, but below tree level, in North America, Norway, Russia, Finland and Sweden.
Berries are extremely inviting, and for good reason – the plants need to make delicious and irresistible fruit in order for animals and humans to eat them, thereby spreading the seeds further afield than they can do themselves.
Related: Scandinavian Rhubarb
We have always known, by instinct and guidance from our taste buds, that berries are good for us, and we do not really need science to tell us that they are, and why.
Related: Scandinavian Cherry
Recipe of the month:
Rose and strawberry jam
The petals from fragrant, old-fashioned roses – and especially Rosa rugosa, the wrinkled Japanese rose which grows like a terrifying weed all over the north – are perfectly coupled to this jam. The taste is almost indecently intense, and the rose petals add a delicious chewiness; eating it is an all together ‘mouth-opening’ experience.
Jam made this way is nicely set, without the need for pectin, and the short, hefty boiling preserves the taste. Be sure to gather roses that have not been sprayed, and pick the flowers in the morning, where the fragrance is at its highest level. You can use buds, and even blowsy, almost spent flowers, as long as the petals are in good condition. Clean the petals by spreading them out on a tea towel, then removing insects and stamens by hand; do not wash them.
500g sugar
900g strawberries, hulled
1.5 liters rose petals
MAKES 4-5 jars
Heat the sugar in an ovenproof dish in the oven at 150 C/gas mark 2 for 5 minutes. At the same time, put the strawberries in a non-corrosive sauteuse or other heavy-based pan and boil to full heat until the berries give up their juices.
Stir the hot sugar into the fruit. Keep the heat on high, and stir for some minutes until the juice thickens. Stir in the petals, which will collapse in a very short time. Boil until the petals are soft and well-integrated in the jam and the strawberries have a cooked-trough, jammy look, but are not too mushy.
Pour the jam into sterilized jars, cover with a clean tea towel and leave to cool. Seal when completely cold. The jam keeps well if stored in a cool, dark place.
Scandinavian Berries, written by Tor Kjolberg
Feature image (on top) by Monash Fodmap