Swedish Food

There has been some interest in the question: what is Swedish food like? I thought I'd address just that.
First of all, Swedish food is both the best of times and the worst of times. Because Sweden is one of those northern countries that built up a culinary tradition before the advent of refrigeration, you can taste the heritage of various preserving techniques that were once used to get food through the long winter. We're talking salt, vinegar, and smoked and pickled fish. A tendency not to incorporate fresh vegetables into recipes. However, that said, the Swedes have two things going for them: a commitment to quality, and a truly incredible, absolutely heavenly, serenely blissful ability to make pastries. They blow the French out of the water when it comes to pastries. This is a little known fact.

Take the princess torte:



My friends, that green "icing" exterior is actually the most delicately chewy, exquisitely almondy marzipan you've ever had in your life. That top layer of whiteness is ever so lightly sweetened whipped cream. The thin purple stripe is a layer of preserves.

This is not something that you find in pastry specialty shops here and there. No, no. This is something available for your eating pleasure in every little cafe and on every little dessert tray on every street corner. It's traditionally a birthday cake, but seems to be eaten all the time.

Or consider the semla. Oh yes, consider the semla.



The first time I saw a semla, I thought it looked sort of gross. Is that how you feel, looking at it now? Are you more of a chocolate person, not a cream puff/doughnut type of person? Well, my muffins, you are on the wrong track. Although the semla looks as if it's going to taste like something from the Crispy Cream Corporation, you bite into it and discover a series of complex, sophisticated tastes. The bun itself is of cardamom wheat, sweet but also nutty and spicy, "which has its top cut off and insides scooped out and then filled with a mix of the scooped out bread crumbs, milk and almond paste, topped of with whipped cream. The cut-off top is then put back as a lid and dusted with icing sugar." (Courtesy Wikipedia).

My friends, you WILL like Swedish pastries. You won't be able to help it.