Swedish foods
DAIRY PRODUCTS
Children may take milk with their meals; adults prefer beer or coffee. The
main form of milk consumption is in a wide variety of mostly mild cheeses
which are eaten for breakfast, as appetizers, as part of the smorgasbord
(sliced cheeses and sliced meats), or for dessert with fruits.
FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
A wide variety of fruits and vegetables are used fresh in season, grown
locally, or imported. Also used are canned, dried and frozen fruits and
vegetables. The most popular of the fruits are apples and lingonberries,
while the humble potato still outshines imported artichokes and white
asparagus in most homes as the daily standby. Fruit preserves and pickled
and brined vegetables are much enjoyed year-round.
MEATS AND ALTERNATES
Pork and pork products are most important, but other meats are used: veal,
beef, lamb, offal products, chicken, and goose. Game fowl and wild animals
are quite plentiful. The Laplander's domesticated reindeer meat is sold
frozen, fresh, or smoked. Herring is the staple fish and is served fresh,
salted, smoked, pickled, fried, or with a variety of sauces such as onion,
mustard, cream, etc.
Other fish used include rakor (shrimp), svardfisk
(swordfish), smelts, perch, flounder, halibut, sole, haddock, and lax
(salmon). Not only herring, but also these other fish are frequently
served with sauces of which the most popular are white sauce, mustard
sauce, and horse radish. Fish may be prepared by poaching, steaming,
grinding, and forming into balls; fish may be pickled, smoked, or smoked
then baked, or made into soufflés. Only occasionally is fish served
breaded and fried.
Eggs are consumed in baked goods, as omelets or soufflés, pickled or
chopped into salads. The most-used legumes are the dried yellow peas made
into the traditional Thursday soup: arter med flask. Small white
dried beans are used for Swedish baked beans, a traditional dish which is
part of almost any smorgasbord. Nuts, especially almonds, are used in
desserts and in sweet bakery and pastries.
BREADS AND GRAINS
Rye breads and thin rye crispbreads are very popular. These may vary from
very dark, heavy, and sour breads to light breads that are slightly sweet
such as the Swedish limpa bread. Cooked cereals, gruels, and
porridges are not used by the Swedes. The frequent serving of coffee is
always accompanied with a selection of yeast coffee cakes, light plain
sponge cakes, and crisp plain cookies - after meals, between meals, and as
a form of hospitality.
FATS
Butter or pork fat (lard) is used in cooking and baking. Fats are also
consumed in the many cheeses, in cream, which is used generously, and in
whipped cream, which is enjoyed with desserts. Only occasionally is sour
cream used.
SWEETS AND SNACKS
The Swedish sweet tooth is well satisfied by all the delicately sweet
baked goods that accompany the many daily cups of coffee. A supply of
these in any Swedish home is considered as much a staple as bread.
SEASONINGS
Brining, marinating, and smoking are ways of flavoring and preserving
meats and fish, while dill and onions are the seasonings. Sometimes the
addition of creamy sauces mellows the flavors of salt and smoke.
Vegetables are cooked in soups or stews or otherwise well cooked then
sauced with mustard and/or horse radish. Vegetables are also used in
salads with a marinade of vinegar, onions, and spices. Fresh eggs, sweet
butter, and cream lend their gentle rich taste to most bakery.
The centuries-old river trade with Kiev brought the first spices to
Sweden: saffron, cardamom, cinnamon and cloves, cumin and coriander, anise
and even pepper. There is variety on the Swedish spice shelf, but the hand
that measures spices has a light touch: natural flavors from good
ingredients is the overall preference.
BEVERAGES
Coffee is not only a staple in Sweden, it is a ritualized institution. No
meal is complete without it, and it must be hot, strong, and black.
Similarly, an evening appetizer or the famed smorgasbord is scarcely
complete without the ritual of shoal: you hold an icy glass of Akvavit
up high, eyeing your companion, say "Skoal!" and down the drink in
one gulp with a final nod to your companion as you display the emptied
glass. Some Swedes like to follow the Akvavit with beer, most
others blithely continue with more skoal punctuated with salty
morsels from the appetizer trays.