semiswede

Early fall has arrived in Sweden. The nights are cool, and the days struggle to reach 70°F (21°C). A sure sign of the change in seasons is the appearance of lingon (LING-ohn) at local markets, and even supermarkets. Lingonberries, as they are most commonly known in English, are native to Scandinavia and have a long-standing history […]

September 30th is apple day in Sweden this year. It’s time to take advantage of the peak of the season with classics like Swedish apple cake with vanilla sauce, a twist on a classic – lingonberry laced applesauce, or perhaps it’s time to try something new like apple chutney, a specialty of my mother-in-law.

As I mentioned in my last post about summer vacation, it appears that summer in southern Sweden was here for one day last week, and now it’s over. But in the hope that some of you out there still have warm weather, perhaps you can still make use of this simple, summery recipe that pairs […]

In early September I made a post about my first experience with foraging havtorn (sea buckthorn) and I was determined to make it back for a second picking before the season was over. At the end of September, after a an intense couple of hours of foraging on the second go-round, I stopped in at our little neighborhood market to […]

Here is a bit of a Scandinavian twist on good ‘ol applesauce. My in-laws have a fantastic apple tree that lost a lot of apples in a wind storm. We gathered two bags full of apples just from what had fallen and there are still loads of them on the tree.

  One of the easiest, and most gratifying foraging finds in Sweden are wild rose hips, particularly the large rosa rugosa. From beaches to front yards the bright vermillion-red hips are generally ripe from August to October. There are masses of them to be found at Lomma Beach on the southwestern Swedish coast. In just […]

I can’t remember how I first heard about havtorn (sea buckthorn), but it was definitely within the last year because I couldn’t wait for September to arrive so I could find some. Everything I read said they were extremely laborious to pick but for an admitted berry-picking addict I thought it couldn’t be that bad. I was […]

What do you do when you have picked 30 pounds (13.5kg) of plums at your friend’s place? You leave 15 pounds for her to deal with and take the rest home to begin on chutney, jam, cakes, jam, liqueur, jam, and then you consider force feeding the rest to your family. Anything to use them up fast.

Clockwise from top: strawberry-red currant, wild raspberry, cherry-rhubarb, gooseberry-elderflower, and black currant I have a friend with a truly amazing garden that I swear should be in ads for Miracle-Gro. There are cascades of red and black currants, a plethora of perfect cherries, gargantuan raspberries, and substantial globes of red and green gooseberries. It’s like […]

This is the time of year when I am faced with a challenge. Everything seems to be coming into season at the same time and with my berry picking addiction I can tend to go a little overboard. I have some wonderful friends and family who generously share the bounty of their gardens and in the […]