Treats from Stockholm, Sweden

We traveled back home from Stockholm with several Swedish goodies. The cinnamon buns and cardamon bun from Svedjan Bageri were very good. Although the pastries were a day old, they still tasted fresh and delightful. Finally I understand why the bakery is so popular. Three kinds of Swedish brand Delicato cookies also tasted pretty good. They were store-bought products that I would like to keep in the kitchen cabinet. 

Digestive biscuits are our tea time regulars. When we saw Swedish brand Göteborgs Kex's digestive biscuits at a grocery during the trip, we were curious about them. We compared them with our usual UK’s famous McVitie’s The Original. Surprisingly I preferred Swedish version, which I thought have slightly coarser texture and richer wholewheat flavor. 

AlterHedens’ lingonberry jam and cloudberry jam were lovely. I had lingonberry jam a long time ago but I don’t remember much about it. This lingonberry jam tasted very bright and had a nice sweet-sour balance. I felt I hadn’t really had real lingonberry jam before. On the other hand, I hadn’t heard cloudberries before the trip. J suggested the mystery fruit as one of Swedish specialties we should try, and we luckily found the cloudberry jam as well as the lingonberry jam. Cloudberries are normally only found in the northern Sweden and in the neighboring far north countries such as Norway and Finland. The berries turn golden orange color when they ripen. The jam tasted like mellow honey. I liked it! It was definitely seedy, though. By the way I heard that the Swedes serve lingonberry jam with savory dishes like meatballs as well as pancakes and porridge, but never on toast. Oops, we ate both jams on toast!

Here is a proof that we did follow the Swedish customs. I made Swedish-style meatballs soon after the trip and served them with the lingonberry jam as well as homemade creamy sauce, mashed potato and home-pickled cucumber. 

The special coffee from Sibyllans wasn't our taste, though. I'm not 100% sure but I think we got Sibyllan's Premium Brew Medium Roast, which is supposed to be "a fantastically delicious coffee, with beans mainly from Cerrado in Brazil and Sidamo in Ethiopia. Balanced, fruity, soft, nuanced and full of flavour." Anyway, whatever we bought tasted too bitter and didn't have a pleasant aroma either. The grounded beans were directly packed in the paper bag. Did they get oxidized within a few days after our purchase? Well, it was disappointing.

Kexchoklad, known as the Swedish version of a KitKat, was just like a Kitkat. Somehow J must have liked it and ate almost all of the whole bar alone.

We had a cheese party with three kinds of flatbreads, four kinds of Swedish cheese, canned Grebbestads anchovies (anchovy-style, marinated sprat fillets) and fish roe paste in tube.

Among the flatbreads, Leksands' Brungräddat was our winner! Crispy but not too crunchy, and plain but tasty. The cheeses were Almnäs Tegel, Wrångebäck, Prästost, and one that I don't remember. Each was somewhat different from others - one was more crumble or creamy, or stronger or milder than others, for example, but I thought that overall they were kinda similar. Anyway all were good! However, both the anchovies and the fish roe paste were too sweet and too salty for my taste. 

Our inedible treats were a small princess cake and a little brown bird made in glass. They were made at the glass studio in Skansen. So pretty and adorable!

They will remind us of the wonderful time in Stockholm even after all edible treats are gone.