1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (86 page)

Caraway seeds, or
Carum carvi
, have a pleasantly clean taste with a subtle hint of anise, a combination prized in foods and beverages like the classic Scandinavian schnapps aquavit. The seeds lend flavor to crispbreads, cheeses, Christmas cookies, cabbage and potato dishes, pickles, and lamb stews. Caraway seeds contain carvone, an essential oil that will spoil at warm temperatures—so here, too, rancidity can be a problem. Like dill seed, caraway seeds are best stored in the refrigerator. And to work as a really efficient seasoning in cooked or marinated dishes, they should be crushed in a spice grinder, under a knife blade, or with a mortar and pestle.

Mail order:
For whole dried dill and caraway seeds, Penzeys Spices, tel 800-741-7787,
penzeys.com
.
Further information and recipes:
World-Class Swedish Cooking
by Björn Frantzén and Daniel Lindeberg (2013);
The Complete Scandinavian Cookbook
by Alice B. Johnson (1964);
Scandinavian Christmas
by Trine Hahnemann (2012);
saveur.com
(search swedish pickled crudites; red cabbage with caraway seeds).
Tip:
Dill is an easy and rewarding herb to grow in a garden or window box; seeds are available at
burpee.com
.

Humans, it is said by scientists, are the only animals that can learn to like a food they hated on the first try. Other species forever shun a disliked food unless (possibly) they are starving. Which brings us to the lovable bittersweet vetch
and so-called confection we know as black licorice. Children often have their first taste of licorice in the form of long, twisted “shoelaces,” dome-shaped drops, or little gummy animals, all sweet licorice candies. These have little resemblance to the more adult, lustier Scandinavian versions that replace most of the sugar with salt in the form of ammonium chloride (as opposed to salt’s more common form, sodium chloride) for an extra belt of chemical bite and aroma.

Licorice is drawn from the root of the leguminous licorice tree (Glycyrrhiza glabra), a watery plant with delicate leaves much like those of the mimosa tree, native to the Mediterranean. It contains the powerfully sweet compound glycyrrhizin, said to be fifty times sweeter than sucrose yet still not quite sweet enough to compensate for the alluring natural bitterness of the root material. To be shaped into the forms we know, the extract is mixed with gelatin, sugar, salt, water, and flour to form a paste that can be extruded and molded into pipes, drops, ropes, and animals.

Holland and England make fine licorice, but salty licorice reaches an apotheosis in Scandinavia, where it has long been believed to have medicinal properties as a laxative, a throat soother, and a blood purifier, the latter apparently a trait credited to almost anything that is bitter.

Most of all, Scandinavian licorice is enticingly good fun—addictive to many palates, repellent to some, but a worthwhile experience nonetheless. True licorice lovers can also seek out the flavoring in spirits such as the Greek ouzo, Middle Eastern arak, and French pastis, or, on a less felicitous palliative note, that old-time stomach remedy, paregoric.

Mail order:
scandinavianbutik.com
(click Candy, then search halva finnish sweet licorice);
allthingsliquorice.co.uk
(search lakrids);
licoriceinternational.com
(search lakerol; heksen drop);
epicurious.com
(search black licorice ice cream; licorice pudding).
Further information:
The Oxford Companion to Food
by Alan Davidson (1999).
Special event:
The Swedish Annual Liquorice Festival, Stockholm, April,
lakritsfestivalen.se
.

Wild lingonberries, ripe for the picking in late summer.

Close relatives of cranberries, lingonberries (
tytteboer
in Norwegian) are tiny, garnet-red berries botanically known as
Vaccinium vitis-idaea
with a sophisticated, winey flavor and a serious tartness that means they cannot be eaten raw without sugar. Highly prized in Scandinavia, they are also beloved in Russia, Scotland, and in Germany, where they are called
Preiselbeeren
. In England, the berries grow in heather-covered bogs, a circumstance that may account for their name—
ling
being the word for certain types of English heather.

Variously preserved, they are the favored garnish for Swedish meatballs, Danish
frikadeller
, and almost any roasted goose, duck, game, or pork dish in the Scandinavian lexicon. Like a side of glowing red cabbage, they lend a festive touch to the holiday table, whether simmered and pureed as jam or cooked whole as
conserves. Their juices flavor and color cold soups and whipped desserts such as the Finnish
kiisseli
, a cornstarch-thickened pudding related to the Russian
kissel
, and the berries are also simmered into
vatkattu marjapuuro
, a Finnish farina-based fluff of a pudding that takes on the rosy pink tint of dawn.

Despite the rich dishes with which they often appear, lingonberries are good for us—full of vitamin C, fiber, and antioxidants. To boot, they have two ripening seasons, the first in midsummer and the second in early autumn.

Retail and mail order:
In Minneapolis
, Ingebretsen’s, tel 800-279-9333,
ingebretsens.com
(search lingonberry preserves).
Mail order:
scandinavianbutik.com
(click Food, then search frozen lingonberries or lingonberry preserve).
Further information and recipes:
Scandinavian Christmas
by Trine Hahnemann (2012);
allrecipes.com
(search lingonberry jam).

Scandinavian crispbreads on a wooden pole.

Perhaps because in cold climates it takes a long time for yeast doughs to rise, the Scandinavians have developed almost endless variations on what may broadly be categorized as rusks and crispbreads, and in Swedish are called
knäckebröd.
An especially apt example of onomatopoeia, the word recalls the crackling snap you’ll hear inside your head while chewing these rough, palate-scrubbing, whole-grain breads. Leavened with yeast or sourdough starters, some are baked on iron griddles or in wood-fired stone ovens until very dry, a practice left over from olden days, when the breads had to keep through long winters without developing mold. Made from whole grain, and therefore high in fiber and relatively low in calories, the breads are especially suited to today’s fluffy-white-bread-averse health food culture. (Even Dr. Atkins would approve.) They also are addictively delicious, with rye flour lending a sophisticated sourish touch that makes them especially harmonious with strong cheeses, supple high-fat butter, and rich spreads.

Some, such as the Finn Crisp and Kavli brands, are well known outside of Scandinavian climes. These wafers, sold in many supermarkets, vary in thickness from about a quarter of an inch to a paperlike thinness. Lesser known are the toughest Swedish knäckebröds, big, round, dimpled wheels meant to be broken into portions as needed. Center holes once allowed them to be strung up on poles so air circulation could help them stay fresh; that practice is no longer necessary, but the holes remain, and rounds of the bread are traditionally presented on tables, stacked onto wooden pegs that are mounted on flat wooden disks.

In addition to these flat crispbreads, each Scandinavian country has a softer, richer, iconic bread of its own. Among the best is the Danish
rugbrød
, or rye bread, that comes packaged in thin, square slices the color of toasted wheat. Firm-textured and somehow always cool and pleasantly moist (toasting ruins its prime qualities), this fragrant bread spread with sweet butter calls to mind the very flavor of Denmark.

Scented with cardamom, anise, and burnishings of molasses, the soft and grainy brown Swedish limpa bread is especially important during the Christmas season, although it is enjoyed all year long.

Ruis bread, the Finnish sourdough rye, is formed into flat rounds, again with a hole in the center, distinguished by a crackled hard crust that gives the loaves an antique look. Cut into thick slices and served with butter and cheese, it traditionally accompanies strong morning coffee lightened with a froth of hot milk.

Norway’s main contributions to the Scandinavian bread board are
lefse
and
lompe.
Thin, round pancakes, lefse are soft and subtly salty, usually made from a batter of wheat and rye flours, egg, and soured milk or cream and seared on an ungreased hot stone or iron griddle. A bit thicker and slightly more flexible, lompe pancakes are made with mashed potatoes mixed only with flour and salt. Both can be filled with butter and jam and folded handkerchief-style, or wrapped around ham or hot dogs (
wienerpølser
) for a sandwich known as a
tunnbrödsrulle
, “a thin bread roll.”

Where:
In New York
, for Danish rye breads, Breads Bakery, tel 212-633-2253,
breadsbakery.com
.
Mail order:
For Finnish Ruis breads,
nordicbreads.com
;
scandinavianbutik.com
(click Food, then search danish rugbrød; cardamom bread);
kuhsdeli.com
(search norwegian potato lefse).
Further information and recipes:
Scandinavian Baking
by Trine Hahnemann (2014);
The Great Scandinavian Baking Book
by Beatrice Ojakangas (1999);
Home Baked
by Hanne Risgaard, translated by Marie-Louise Risgaard (2012);
cookadvice.com
(search lompe potato pancake bread);
saveur.com
(search cardamom bread);
breadexperience.com
(search finnish rye bread).