Lingonberry jam

Lingonberry jam

Lingonberry jam on Swedish black pudding
Details
Type	Spread
Main ingredient(s)	Lingonberries, sugar

Lingonberry jam on toast

Lingonberry jam (Swedish: lingonsylt, Norwegian: tyttebærsyltetøy, Danish: tyttebærsyltetøj, Estonian: pohlamoos, Finnish: puolukkahillo, German: Preiselbeermarmelade, Latvian: brūkleņu ievārījums, Lithuanian: bruknių džemas) is a staple food in Scandinavian cuisine. Lingonberries (Vaccinium vitis-idaea) are known as mountain cranberries or partridge berries in North America from Alaska to Labrador.

History

Because lingonberries are plentiful in the forested areas of the Swedish inland, they are widely collected for jam. It has always been very popular with traditional dishes such as kroppkakor, pitepalt, potato cake, kåldolmar, mustamakkara and black pudding. Today, lingonberries are often served as jam, for instance with oven-made thick pancakes, or they may be served as a relish with meat courses such as meatballs, beef stew or liver dishes; regionally, they are even served with fried herring. The jam is also often used on mashed potatoes and the traditional oatmeal porridge, sometimes together with cinnamon, and, perhaps, a little sugar or syrup.

Lingonberry jam has been popularized in North America by IKEA.

Composition

Fine lingonberry jam is prepared only with berries, sugar and, optionally, a small amount of water. Cheaper varieties are diluted with apples and/or pectin. The finest lingonberry "jam" is prepared fresh by just mixing berries and sugar, without boiling; this is called rårörda lingon or rørte tyttebær (raw-stirred lingonberries). Before the use of refined sugar became common in Sweden, lingonberry jam was prepared with lingonberries as the only ingredient. Because of the benzoic acid, which is found in high amounts in lingonberries, the berries keep well without any sugar or other preservatives.

See also

• Danish cuisine
• Finnish cuisine
• Norwegian cuisine
• Swedish cuisine