Lingonberries

I’m going to introduce you to a few Nordic ingredients, some you may or may not know in my next few posts.  Although lingonberries look so delicious in their natural form they are not good to eat raw as they are really tart and bitter, adding sugar transforms them into something that goes incredibly well with game, meat and in desserts.  As a child, I loved them in their simplest form, with yoghurt or filmölk (a live fermented milk, like yoghurt, we’ll come back to this later).

Bursting with natural preservatives and pectin,  they can be kept for some time by simply stirring them with a little sugar to make a simple lingonberry jam that requires no cooking (rårörda).  Best known, I guess accompanied with Swedish meatballs or pancakes with cream, this fruit is used in so many other ways in modern cooking. Available at Ikea as a preserve or use its cousin the cranberry, they also contain powerful antioxidants.