Happy Midsommar! Sweden's second biggest holiday, celebrating the summer equinox, has a misleading name. It starts the summer season here, as oppossed to being in the middle of it. Swedish summers being what they are, it often still feels like early spring, weather-wise. But that doesn't stop us from having a party.
Like most other holidays, Swedish midsommar is all about the food. Fish is the main dish, with several varieties of herring and salmon on offer alongside eggs, meatballs, cheese and bread. Swedes do love their protein...
Despite this plethora of protein, some fruits and veg do play a starring role: but not just any fruit and vegs... the menu is very strict here, and variations are frowned upon. No midsommar plate would be complete without plenty of dill, new potatoes, radishes and strawberries.
Our radish season is already over, and the potato plants are just now putting on flowers, so I had to buy these things, but Oh Boy, do we have dill! The potatoes are boiled with dill, herring is served in a creamy dill sauce, there is a mustard-dill sauce for the salmon, and all the platters are decorated with dill.
We have strawberries, too! Not the big ones, which are just now starting to get a little red on their skins, but the little wild strawberries are ripe and ready to eat.
It only took about 5 minutes to gather a pint of these little beauties, no bigger than your fingernail, but with an intense perfumey strawberry flavor.
So I was able to gather a few things from the garden for our celebration. Hopefully the potatoes and big strawberries will be ready in time for the Fourth of July.
Happy Midsommar!
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