Taste of Swedish Lapland ENG

the taste of

SWEDISH LAPLAND SWEDEN’S NORTHERNMOST DESTINATION

Kalix

löjrom distinctive local caviar From the Bay of Bothnia to festive occasions

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2014

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A

gastronomic getaway – discover the pure

raw ingredients

Freshly baked bread in the wild:

Cook your Gáhkku over the open fire!

Photo: Lola Akinmade ร kerstrรถm

Escape your day-to-day existence and have a taste of our arctic life.

Sturdy boots on your feet and a comfortable windbreaker on top of your base layer. Warm rays of sun finding their way through the leafage. The creek close by provides soothing sound effects as it makes its playful way downstream over the rocks. A couple of fishermen stand in the middle of the river with water up to their knees and swing their rods in calm, smooth patterns before they put the fly to rest on the waters surface. You turn your gaze to the ground and discover that the blueberry springs are all over. Methodically you search the area and take a few steps towards an area where the ground is moister. Suddenly, something orange interrupts the greenery. You squat and pick the warm and moist cloudberry and put it in your mouth. The characteristic flavour awakens your taste buds at the same time as you notice the ocean of gold you’re sitting in the middle of. What a perfect time to fill the freezer!

This is what we want to share with you. Come here and find your own paths through forests, over the mountain tundra and on islands in the archipelago. Unwind and have a seat at the open fire and we’ll talk about life and everything we’ve experienced during the day. Together we’ll cook our meal with raw ingredients straight from our pure nature. Reindeer meat directly from the Sami reindeer herders in the area and lingonberries found just around the corner before the frost settled. Spending time outdoors, enjoying experiences and delicacies – that is a natural part of our everyday-life that we want to invite you to share with us.

Welcome here and taste all the goodness of nature that has over centuries adapted to life in our subarctic environment. Herbs and berries that hibernate during the polar winter, awaken and literally explode in the spring sun.

Raw ingredients filled with strength and flavour during 100 days without night. Game and livestock that graze and grow strong in the pure nature. Fishes swimming and spawning in water so clear you can drink it. Natural, clear flavours that take shortest way possible to the table.

Welcome to share our everyday-life.

Sincerity through the centuries In Swedish Lapland we are passionate about honestly prepared food from local produce. That comes quite naturally since nature’s pureness and lots of great ingredients surround us. It was the Sami that first started evolving our culinary art thousands of years ago, kettles over open fire with whatever was on offer from the surroundings. Reindeer, naturally.

And elk of course. Game birds like grouse, fish such as grayling, char, salmon and whitefish. During the spring, summer and autumn they had the finest accompaniments on the plate with berries and wild greens in the shape of herbs, roots and other eatable plants packed with vitamins and minerals.

Many of our current food traditions are sprung from the need to preserve and utilise ingredients all year round. Through drying, smoking, curing and preserving the supply of food was secured during all seasons.

The flavours that you find on your plate today often carry a history from a time when supermarkets on the corner was a rare luxury. And in the parts of Sweden where the Sami community still makes a living from reindeer herding and spend long periods of time in the mountains, this knowledge and culinary craft is very much alive still today.

A lot of the raw ingredients from Swedish Lapland is extremely sought after by gourmet restaurants all over the world, and they often end up on the plates at the Nobel Banquet and other festive occasions.

The characteristic roe from Kalix, Kalixlöjrom, is the first food in Sweden to be awarded with Protected Designation of Origin.

The beautiful traditional artwork, “allmoge” paintings, in Torne and Kalix River Valley are dominated by the colours red, yellow and brown. It displays early contacts with similar art from northern areas of Finland and Russia. This art expression is usually named as Tornedals painting, and the artwork from Överkalix is considered defining within the genre.

Gáhkku, Sami flatbread cooked over the open fire in a frying pan or muurikka.

Rieska is similar bread from Torne River Valley, but made of rye flour.

Recipe: Some melted butter or oil 1 litre water or milk 50 gram dry yeast 1 decilitre syrup or sugar 1 teaspoon salt 4-5 decilitre wheat flour

Photo: Magnus Skoglöf

Make a fire. Whilst the fire is getting ready, prepare the dough in a bowl and leave it to prove.

Heat the liquid and butter/oil lukewarm (37° C).

• Add the yeast to the liquid and stir.

• Pour the mixture into a bowl and add syrup (sugar) and salt.

• Gradually add flour until the dough is firm and no longer sticky.

• Work the dough for 5-10 minutes, and then let it prove under a cloth for 40 min.

• Divide the dough into ten equal size parts and flatten the dough thinly with a roller

• •

or your hands.

Heat the pan or muurikka over the fire Peck the breads with a fork and bake them in the hot pan.

Let the bread cakes colour and then turn them over with the fork. Make sure the pan is not too hot and burns the bread. You can also bake the bread in a pan on the stove in the comfort of your home.

Enjoy!

Gáhkku, rieska, glödkaka, klådda, soft flatbread...

– we find many names for what we love

SUOVAS IS SAMI FOR LIGHTLY-SMOKED

Photo: Carl-Johan Utsi

Cured, smoked and dried are traditional ways of preparing and processing reindeer meat. Historically in order to preserve it, and now mainly for the delicious taste. The procedure starts with curing of the meat. Through dry curing where the meat and salt is layered in barrels, the meat can be left for months without being over-cured.

The smoking also adds to the durability and adds even more flavour. It usually takes a couple of days, and the method and choice of fuel wood is an art in itself. Dried, lightly-smoked, reindeer, Goike-suovas, is a perfect snack to bring as extra energy when you go hiking or skiing. The drying-process is traditionally done outdoors in the spring and takes a few weeks.

Muurikka is a frying pan that looks like a giant wok and is perfect for cooking over the open fire.

It is equally useful for baking Gรกhkku as frying burgers or a game stew in the outdoors.

Photo: Magnus Skoglöf

Gáhkku, glödkaka, tunnbröd & klådda – kärt barn har många namn

Photo: Bjรถrn Wanhatalo

BUTTER-FRIED WHITE GROUSE BREAST WITH ALMOND-POTATO PURÉE, CREAM SAUCE AND LINGONBERRY JELLY (recipe from Camp Ripan, Kiruna) White grouse (1 grouse per person) Butter Salt and pepper Pluck the grouse, extract the breast filets, salt and pepper, fry in butter for 2 min on each side. Rest for 5 min before serving.

Almond-potatoe puré 3 dl creamed milk (50 % cream/50 % milk) 1 kilo peeled almondpotatoes 100 gram butter 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon pepper Simmer the potatoes in lightly salted water.

Strain the water and let them steam off. Press the potatoes, mix with butter while whisking heavily. Stir in warm creamed milk until you get the right texture.

Taste with salt and pepper.

Cream sauce 2 decilitre beef stock Giblets from the grouse 4 decilitre cream 1 yellow onion 1/2 carrot Salt and fresh ground pepper Chop onion and carrot.

Sizzle in a casserole together with the giblets.

Add the cream and the stock. Let simmer until it thickens. Taste with salt and pepper.

Lingonberry jelly 500 gram lingonberries 2 decilitre water 3 1/2 decilitre sugar per 1 litre of strained liquid Cleanse and rinse the berries. Boil up the water in a pot. Add the berries to the water and let it boil under the cover for 10 minutes.

Strain. Rinse the pot.

Measure the liquid and pour it back into the pot.

Set it boil and let it boil for another 5 minutes. Add the sugar while stirring slowly and let it simmer without stirring for 15 minutes. The time depends on how ripe the lingonberries are.

Test the jelly: dip a spoon into the mixture and hold it over the pot. When the drips are sticky and fall heavily from the spoon – the jelly is finished. Let the jelly sit for a while when it is finished. Skim of the froth and top layer. Pour the jelly into thoroughly clean and warm jars and let it cool.

Bon appétit!

Grazing free in the landscape With fresh natural pasture the meat from our game is both lean and healthy. All the minerals and vitamins from the vegetable kingdom doesn’t only make the meat good for you, but also very tasty. As far away from processed food as you can possibly get. Elk, bear and deer live freely in Swedish Lapland, both in the woods and the archipelago. For a lot of people, hunting season in the fall is close to sacred, and a lot of visitors also come to the region to join in on the white grouse hunt.

The reindeers are also grazing freely, but the difference to other game is that they all wear a mark on their ear showing which reindeer keeper it belongs to. In Swedish Lapland there are 32 Sami communities, all different co-operative societies, which has reindeer husbandry as their main source of income. The reindeers that belong to the Sami communities in the forestlands graze in the woods all year round. Whilst the Sami communities in the mountains move their reindeers depending on the season; summertime is spent in the mountains and winter close to the coast or in the archipelago where food is more accessible during that time of year. The Sami culture and traditional knowledge of nature and sustainability has evolved reindeer husbandry to a competitive industry in terms of environmentally sound and healthy food. Naturally produced food without unnecessary additives is what conscious consumers want most of all. And that is exactly what we bring to the table in Swedish Lapland.

Taking care of every part of the reindeer is a Sami tradition. Everything that can be eaten or used in someway is utilised. The intestines and stomach is cleaned and used for making blood sausage and “gourpi�; a mix of mince reindeer that is smoked and cooked in the oven. Horn and leather is used in traditional handcraft, Sami Duodji, together with plants and other nature materials.

Further back it was also common to milk the reindeers and make cheese in a low baking tray.

Photo: Carl-Johan Utsi

Agriculture may not be the first that comes to mind when you think of Sweden’s northernmost destination. But actually Swedish Lapland is practically self-sufficient when it comes to milk.

Torne River Valley is an area with remarkable conditions for cultivating vegetables and the landscape here rather resembles the southern parts of Sweden. The clean water in the rivers has created good conditions for agriculture in the six river valleys around Skellefteå River, Piteå River, Luleå River, Råneå River, Kalix River and Torne River. The climate with cold winters also helps create good conditions for environmentally sound agriculture since there is not the same need for pesticides.

There is a long tradition of refining dairy products in the region in order to improve the durability. The most unique one is coffee-cheese, kaffeost, which is originated from Torne River Valley. The cheese is made from unpasteurized milk and then baked. Traditionally it is served in cubes in the coffee instead of regular milk. Another great way to serve it is to heat the cheese in the oven and serve as a dessert together with cloudberries.

Open scenery and coffee culture

Photo: Carl-Johan Utsi

COFFEE-CHEESE (KAFFEOST) WITH CLOUDBERRIES 4 decilitre lukewarm unpasteurized (preferably) milk, high-fat around 5% (or mix 3 parts regular milk with 1 part cream) 1 tablespoon cheese rennet 1 teaspoon salt

Pour the curd in a vessel with detachable sides. Bake the cheese in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes in 275째C.

Take out the cheese and flip it over. Bake it for another 30 minutes upside down.

Take the cheese out of the oven and strain any remaining whey.

Done! Serve with hot or cold cloudberries.

Photo: Carl-Johan Utsi

Mix everything in a bowl and let it sit for 30 minutes or until it solidifies.

Stir with a large spoon and then let is sit until the whey separates from the rest and settle on the surface. Strain the curd to get rid of all the whey.

Skabram is a small farmhouse dairy outside Jokkmokk where milk from Swedish Mountain Cattle, fj채llko, is made into unpasteurized hard cheese with characteristic flavour. The cheese is made by hand and is a completely natural product without additives. The Swedish Mountain Cattle are smaller then other cows and have no horns. The breed is well-adapted to the Nordic climate and it is both strong and rugged. In Skabram, much attention is directed towards the wellbeing of the cattle and they choose themselves when they want to be outdoors in the forest or in their shelter. Combined with natural grazing the result is a very tasty cheese!

Photo: Fredrik Broman/humanspectra.com

A vivid salute from the ice-age Creeks, rivers, lakes and oceans have always been vital lifeblood to the people of Swedish Lapland. With more than 30 000 lakes, over 300 kilometres of coastline and three of Sweden’s four national rivers fishing has always played a major roll, for both breadwinning and recreation. The Bay of Bothnia has the world’s largest brackish water archipelago, which means that if you accidentally swallow some water whilst bathing in the ocean it won’t taste salty at all. The inflows of sweet water from the rivers are fresh and filled with minerals, and provide unique qualities. It is these conditions that provide the fish “vendace”, who rarely get bigger than 20 centimetres long, with its unique composition of nutrition that in turn results in the worlds most precious roe (if we may say so ourselves).

A considerably larger relative of the vendace migrates up Torne River to reproduce every year, and are greeted by fishermen equipped with long-shafted nets along the way. During July there is intense activity in Kukkola, among other places, where long jetties, “pator”, are built into the stream so that the fishermen can reach the nets into the riverbed where the fish stop to rest during their migration.

If you hike in the mountains in Swedish Lapland, a mug or “kåsa” should be part of your gear since you can have a drink of fresh water straight from creeks. With water that pure, it is no wonder that char, grayling and trout are alive and kicking here. Even in the winter many people go fishing on ice-covered streams and lakes, especially when the rays of spring sun are beaming intensely. During this period, fishing huts with a hole in the floor for ice-fishing is a common sight on frozen lakes.

Photo: Fredrik Broman/humanspectra.com

Kåsa is a mug or serving-vessel with a handle. A traditional kåsa is mostly made from a burl, an outgrowth on a tree where the wood fibres grow in different directions instead of vertically.

This material is a lot more durable than regular wood.

Photo: Fredrik Broman/humanspectra.com

Vendace has been caught along the coast of Swedish Lapland for as long as there been boats and fishing equipment. The annual roe-fishing takes place during the spawning period between the 20th September and the end of October. It is the female vendace that carry the sought-after roe, and extracting it is a handicraft in the true sense of the word – no machine could ever replace the skill and dexterity of experienced fingertips.

Dip it !

An ancient dish from the Torne River Valley that is eaten all year round is “dopp i kopp”, or dip in a cup. It is especially tasty with new potatoes. Finely chopped dill, chives and yellow onion are placed in a regular coffee cup.

Add hot, melted butter to the cup. Serve together with potatoes, smoked whitefish and cured salmon on a plate with the cup. Then you just have to dip and experience the simple, but so delicious flavours!

Serving suggestions from Margit Spolander, Kukkolaforsen

Photo: Magnus Skoglöf

Photo: Magnus Skoglöf

Whitefish-grilling over open fire in Kukkola.

The wild green and all other colours After a long and snowy winter the sight of sprouting buds are especially welcome. In Swedish Lapland nature literally explodes in the spring in the intense sun, and before we know it everything has started growing vividly. The midnight sun does its job in the process and helps charge berries full of vitamin C and antioxidants. Besides blueberries and lingonberries, you can find super-berries like sea-buckthorn in the archipelago, sweet arctic bramble and juicy cloudberries on marches in the forests and mountains. There is also a type of crowberries with the male and female flowers on the same plant, which makes them extra fertile.

Wild animals enjoy all the nutritious greens on offer – and we take every opportunity to bend our knees and put the goodies in our mouths. What we don’t eat or cook jam of ends up stored away in the freezer to last the winter.

Also herbs and other greens are packed with healthy minerals and vitamins. Angelica grows in the wild and is traditionally used by the Sami as a vegetable when they move the reinders to their summer graze. The stem can be eaten grilled or fresh and is said to strengthen the immune system and cure stomach pains. Porridge can be cooked with the angelica root, and nowadays it is also common to make jam or jelly from the stems and use the dried seeds as a spice. A Sami tradition is to chop up and boil herbs into a mixture that is heated together with reindeer milk until it thickens. This is called guompa and can be stored in a keg over winter.

The flowers of meadow sweet can be used equivalent to elderberries while making a tasty drink. A decoction of the leaves is a pleasant herbal tea. Both flowers and leaves contain salicylic acid and has been used as a natural remedy for pain relief and antifebrile. The plants earlier scientific name Spiraea ulmaria has given the pharmaceutical Aspirin its name.

Photo: Magnus Skoglรถf

Once you have tasted angelica you are prone to want to do it again. Angelica only lives in arctic environments and makes a delicious snack if you sweeten it lightly and dry it.

Photo: Carl-Johan Utsi

Photo: Carl-Johan Utsi

Juobmo, mountain sorrel, was picked by the sackfull during summer and used as a welcome addition of vitamin C in the Sami kitchen. Just like spinach it melts when heated and can easily be used in soups or stews.

The goodness of plants and berries are equally beneficial on your body as well as inside it. This is one of the core ideas of cosmetic company c/o GERD who produces organic skin products in Jokkmokk. Blueberries, lingonberries and cloudberries are some of the main ingredients.

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Idea, words & graphic design: Swedish Lapland Tourism Cover photo: Carl-Johan Utsi Illustration: Lisa Wallin www.swedishlaplandtourism.se