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Tag archives for herring

Fried pickled herring

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Photo: Jakob Fridholm/Image Bank Sweden

 

Fried pickled herring with crisp bread and herrgårds cheese
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Recipe Type: Appetizer
Author: Jesper Johansson, Grythytte akademi
Serves: ´10
Ingredients
  • 600g of herring fillets
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1dl chopped parsley
  • 1dl chopped dill
  • dl coarse rye flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt, white pepper
  • Butter for frying
  • Brine:
  • 4 tablespoons vinegar
  • 2dl water
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 red onion, sliced
  • 6 whole allspice
  • 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
  1. Mix all the ingredients to the brine in a saucepan and allow it to simmer.
  2. Let the brine cool.
  3. Chop the parsley and dill and mix with butter.
  4. Mix coarse rye flour, salt and pepper on a plate.
  5. Add the herrings, two and two with skin side out and a dab of green herb butter between.
  6. Turn herring flounder in coarse rye flour.
  7. Brown the butter in a pan and fry the herring flounder on both sides a few minutes.
  8. Add the flounder in a deep bowl and pour over the brine.
  9. Let the pickled herring stand cold. The fried pickled herring is ready to be served the next day.
  10. Serve on crisp bread with herrgårds cheese
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Swedish recipes

August 5, 2011

SOS with marinated herring, butter and priest cheese

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Photo: Jakob Fridholm

 

SOS with marinated herring, butter and priest cheese
#ratingval# from #reviews# reviews
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Recipe Type: Appetizer
Author: Jesper Johansson, Grythytte akademi
Serves: 10
SOS stands for sill, ost and snaps (herring, cheese and snaps). A true classic starter in Sweden. Serve with a cold lager and snaps.
Ingredients
  • 10 rye bread, in rectangular slices
  • 100g butter in small cubes
  • 300g marinated herring, in bits
  • Priest cheese, sliced
  • Fresh horseradish, coarsely grated
  • Parsley, chopped
Instructions
  1. Arrange as small sandwiches, sprinkle with grated horseradish and parsley.
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Swedish recipes

July 27, 2011

Västerbotten pie and onion herring

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Photo: Jakob Fridholm/Image Bank Sweden

 

Västerbotten pie/pizza with cumin flavor and onion herring
#ratingval# from #reviews# reviews
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Recipe Type: Appetizer
Author: Jesper Johansson
Serves: 10
Ingredients
  • 10x20cm puff pastry
  • 1-2 egg yolks
  • 5dl Västerbotten cheese, grated
  • 2 tablespoons cumin seeds, lightly crushed
  • 250g pickled onion herring in bits
  • 1 red onion, chopped
  • Herbs and chard shoots
Instructions
  1. Roll out puff pastry
  2. Brush with egg yolk
  3. Sprinkle with cheese and caraway seeds, bake at 200°C in the oven for about 15 minutes.
  4. Allow to cool and then cut into 20 smaller squares.
  5. Arrange with a piece of onion herring, sliced red onion and herbs on the pie.
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The recipe is created by Grythytte akademi for The Swedish Embassies and Consulates

Swedish recipes

July 6, 2011

Oh, snap(s)… it’s Midsummer.

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There’s no use trying to be delicate about this. A crucial part of the Midsummer festivities is the drinking. I’m trying very hard to sound very adult-like and responsible in this blog, but even the totally responsible adults I know seem to be prone to, ahem, a little excess during Midsummer.

Snaps! Aquavit! Brännvin! Bål! Where to start?

Delicious glasses of bål chilling out with the Midsummer Head Wreaths. Photo: Kate Wiseman.

Here’s the basics.

Bål (pronounced like “bowl”) is an alcohol-based fruit punch, usually made with soda for a light and bubbly taste.

Aquavit is the traditional pairing to pickled herring and is made from a vodka base (either potato or grain). Like parmesan and champagne, aquavit is an EU-protected label that must be made with either dill or caraway or both, a baseline flavor that can then be paired with other herbs and spices to make distinctive varieties.

Brännvin is any kind of flavored, distilled alcohol, including but not limited to aquavit. The name “brännvin” refers to the “burning” or distillation of an alcohol, and different kinds of brännvin have been made throughout Scandinavia for centuries.

Snaps is not a type of alcohol; it’s the way a shot of alcohol is drunk. Snaps can be any liquor or combination of liquors and other ingredients, but snaps must be taken in combination with food. At Midsummer, snaps of aquavit or other types of brännvin are usually taken after “snapsvisor” (traditional Swedish drinking songs) are sung.

Kate and Anna’s home brew… sort of

People tend to be on their most Swedish behavior around me as though they owe it to me to show me what a real Swede would do. This system works out really well for me, and whenever I get an idea in my head of something we should do because it’s Swedish, chances are really good that people will play along. Not only that, but since all the old traditions are new to me, I am having a lot of fun taking part in all the things people usually stop doing when they’re children. The “be a good cultural ambassador to the foreigner” complex is awesome. I quite like it.

Which brings us to the snaps situation.

I love Johanna Kindvall’s Kok Blog, and ever since I consulted with her on my Holy Herring! blog post, I’ve been curious to try her recipe for aquavit—she said herring is at its best when paired with the strong and spicy liquor, and I knew that herring was definitely on the menu for Friday. Fortunately, Anna said she was up for the challenge, so we went for it.

Measuring, grinding, steeping, smelling... and voila! Our very own homemade snaps. Photos: Kate Wiseman.

Final result: delicious. I can’t even tell you how many people were like, “Well, I’m not much of a snaps person, but I’ll try it anyway since you made it,” then took half a shot, then reacted with a great deal of surprise: “Wow! That’s not bad!” Two minutes later, another drinking song has started and they’re making a grab for your bottle instead of the store-bought bottle sitting on the table…

You can find the recipes for both the black currant and aquavit varieties on the Kok Blog. The black currant might be a little hard to make if you don’t grow the bushes yourself, but perhaps some readers can suggest where to find them.  I highly recommend both varieties. I liked the aquavit better, but the black currant is lighter and perhaps a little easier to drink if you’re not into spice. Just be sure not to let the black currant leaves steep for too long, otherwise it will start to taste a little grassy.

Back to the bål

For those of you who are not into shots, the bål (fruit punch) that we had at our party was amazing. And therefore dangerous. It was somewhere in the middle of my fourth glass that I thought to myself, “Hmm… I hope this isn’t too strong because I am drinking it really quickly.”

There are almost endless variations of bål and while most are fruity, they can also be made with bitter ingredients, like angostura. You can see an abbreviated selection of the flavor combinations suggested by Systembolaget, the national alcohol monopoly.

A small selection of the wide range of bål variations. Photos: Systembolaget.se.

For those of you who might want a taste of Sweden at your next summer party, here’s the punch that I can vouch for as totally tasty, with thanks to my friend Matilda for sharing the recipe!

Matilda’s Midsummer Bål

Will make two punch bowls full

4 bottles of white wine (or one box)

2 bottles of Sprite

¼ bottle of elderberry cordial/concentrate (find recipe here; can also be bought at Ikea stores worldwide)

¼ bottle of rhubarb and strawberry concentrate

A generous splash of Bacardi lemon

Frozen chopped mango pieces

Fresh lime, sliced thinly into triangles

Frozen strawberries

A few fresh strawberries

A few last thoughts

For those of you who are wondering how I felt the next morning, well… I wasn’t exactly jumping out of bed, itching to run a marathon, but overall I was fine. Water! Water is good for you. Thank goodness I drank a lot of it at the end of the night.

Kate Reuterswärd - Expat

June 28, 2011

Top things I’ll miss in Sweden

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While studying abroad is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, the hardest part isn’t going to your host country: it’s coming back home.

Meeting new people from around the world is just one of the many advantages of studying abroad. Photo: Ben Mack

I’ve been studying in Sweden for about a year, and am definitely going to miss a few things. Here are the 14 I’ll miss most.

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1. Strawberries

 Back where I come from in Oregon, we’re known for having some of the best-tasting strawberries in the world. But even they pale in comparison to the Swedish variety, which taste like a combination of ecstasy, fulfillment, and a satisfaction in knowing you will never have better.

2. Winter

I know what you’re thinking: how can anyone love a season where temperatures can dip below minus 20 Celsius, snow is almost a meter thick, and it’s dark 18 hours (or more) a day? That’s precisely why I love the Swedish winter: it’s so different than what I had been previously used to. In Oregon, winter is marked by over 100 centimeters of rain, and in Boise if it’s snowing… well, if it’s snowing, then that’s the least of your problems. But in Sweden mayors don’t declare a state of emergency when it snows, and the glistening white stuff is also, I’ve discovered, a lot of fun to play in.

Swedish pancakes are, in a word, delicious. Photo: Anne Balonier

3. The food

Sweden may not usually be the first place that comes to mind when people think of tasty national cuisine, but I’ve found Swedish food to be surprisingly scrumptious – and much more diverse than herring and köttbullar. It’s much more affordable than it is in the U.S. (where you usually have to go to a specialty store or IKEA), and obviously more authentic too. And, when I was tired of traditional Svensk mat, grocery stores carry foods from all over the world, including the artificially preserved,  flavorized, prepackaged, hormone-treated, sugar-infused fare I – unfortunately – was raised on.

4. The people

This one comes as a no-brainer. Life isn’t just about what you do: it’s about who you meet. And in Sweden, I’ve met some amazing people, from Swedes such as my host family and close friends to fellow exchange students who’ve helped me broaden my horizons and taught me a lot about myself, too. If it wasn’t for this motley cast of characters, there’s no way my time abroad would have been as magical as it was.

Any time is a great time for a fika! Photo: Anne Balonier

5. Fikas

A uniquely Swedish creation, a fika is a great way to spend time with friends, family, classmates, coworkers, or just about anyone. It’s also a great excuse to consume more coffee and sweets than your mother would have ever allowed you to have growing up.

6. The queue system 

Back home, when you go to someplace like the bank, housing office, etc. you have to wait in line. And wait. And wait. And wait. But in Sweden, you just take a number and wait for your number to be called.  It’s great for people such as myself who can never stay in one place for more than three minutes.

7. Traveling by train 

Trains in the U.S. are few, far between, and incredibly expensive. In Boise, a city of more than 200,000 people and a metro area of half a million, there isn’t even a single operating train station. Pretty much every town in Sweden has a train station, and – in my opinion – paying 400 kronor to travel from Växjö to Göteborg seems pretty cheap. It’s a great way for students without cars to get around.

Kronobergs Slottsruinen, located north of Växjö, dates back to the 15th century. Photo: Ben Mack

8. The history

Some Swedes may gripe that there isn’t much history in Sweden, but it’s a whole lot more than where I come from. Back in Boise, the oldest building is an old log house from the 1800s. In Sweden, people live in houses older than that. Heck, the Växjö Domkyrka (Växjö Cathedral) was built in the 12th century – more than 300 years before America was even “discovered.” Every town has its own rich and unique history.

9. Allsvenskan football

Few things are able to match the passion — and intensity – of Allsvenskan football matches. It’s one of the rare times you’ll see Swedes lose all emotional control, and is certainly not to be missed.

Few things match the passion and excitement of Allsvenskan football. Photo: Ben Mack

10.  My host family

Host families are a fantastic way to see the “real” Sweden, and I had a great time with mine. From going to football matches, to barbecues, to fishing, to speaking to secondary school students and to jumping in frozen lakes, I will miss them greatly.

11.  The summer

If the Swedish winter is spectacular, then the summer is even more so. Photo: Ben Mack

If the Swedish winter is spectacular, then the summer is even more so. Temperatures around 20 Celsius, clear skies, 18 hours of sunlight, Midsummer… what could be better?

12.  Nature

Swedes have a special connection to nature, and it’s easy to see why. Never in my life have I seen a country as green as Sweden is. From the forests to the meadows to the thousands of lakes, it’s hard to imagine more beautiful scenery anywhere else on earth.

13.  Teleborgs Slott

Sure it’s not that old (built around 1900), and sure it’s not that big, but it’s the first castle I’d ever seen. And when it’s only a five-minute walk from your flat, you tend to spend a lot of time there. Truly, it’s the most magical place I’ve ever been. No matter the occasion – whether I was having a bad day, was stressed out, wanted to enjoy nature, meditate, hang out with friends, take a girl on a date, study, or whatever – I could just walk through the castle’s spacious grounds or inside to have a fika. Every moment spent there was spent in timeless bliss.

Though not very old, Teleborgs Slott is nonetheless magnificent. Photo: Ben Mack

 

14.  The Swedes

Whether it’s their closeness to nature, tolerance of others, friendliness, ingenuity, or helpfulness, it’s obvious the Swedes are special. Never before have met friendlier, more tolerant, or helpful people in my life. With them, the glass is always half-full. And their smiles can power a small city. And they’re the most loyal friends you can ever have.

My advice to anyone coming to Sweden: enjoy every moment of it. Because when you’re gone…

You’re not in Sweden anymore. And that’s what I’ll miss the most.

When you're in Sweden for a year, you tend to meet at least a few Swedes. Photo: Tiina Syränjen

Ben Mack — Student

June 26, 2011

The magic – and madness – of Midsummer

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So, what’s the strangest holiday you can think of?

Perhaps you’d say Halloween, an American creation which – as far as I can tell – consists of children dressing up as witches, ghosts, zombies, and all manner of less-than-kosher creatures and visiting the homes of strangers to ask for candy. Or maybe you’d say Diwali, a five-day Indian festival that involves enough fireworks to rival the energy output of the sun. And don’t forget Dia de los Muertos, the Mexican celebration of the dead in which people honor their deceased loved ones by eating skulls made of sugar.

Following basic logic, you’re probably thinking that next I’m going to say that the Swedish Midsummer is the strangest of them all, a holiday that, with its dancing around maypoles and eating more than even an elephant can stomach, makes about as much sense as O.J. Simpson and that infamous car chase.

I could say that but, honestly, Midsummer makes perfect sense. Heck, compared to other traditions it seems – dare I say it – downright normal. Allow me to explain.

Dancing around a maypole is one of the highlights of Midsummer. Photo: Mikael Häggström/Public Domain

June 25 is Midsummer, one of the biggest holidays of the year in Sweden. Traditional events include raising and dancing around a huge maypole (majstång or midsommarstång), an activity that attracts families, neighbors, wild animals, and pretty much anything with a pulse in Sweden. People listen to traditional Swedish music, and some even wear traditional folk costumes that, personally, look much better than those highly stereotyped Bavarian beer maid outfits or whatever you call that decidedly bizarre getup yodelers wear. In addition, many girls wear crowns made of wild springs and wildflowers on their heads. Potatoes, herring, chives, sour cream, beer, snaps and the famous Swedish strawberries are usually eaten, and a variety of drinks are consumed – proving, once again, that you can’t have a holiday in Sweden without eating something.

Like many other things in Sweden (see: winter), the key to surviving Midsummer is endurance. Endurance in the face of a gastronomic smorgasbord that could make all but the hardiest faint. Endurance in the face of talking to relatives you haven’t seen since Christmas or longer. And endurance in knowing that, thanks to almost 24 hours of summertime sunshine, the party might very well go on all day and all night.

But think about it: if you lived in a country where there’s frost on the ground six months out of the year, almost 24 hours of darkness in winter, and occasionally home to some of the coldest winter temperatures on the planet, wouldn’t you want to celebrate once the sun and warm temperatures arrived? Of course you would. And what better way to celebrate than on one of the warmest and sunniest days of the year?

Humans aren't the only ones who love Midsummer weather. Photo: Ben Mack

There’s some interesting history behind Midsummer, too. Because Midsummer was thought to be one of the times of the year when magic was strongest, it was considered a good night to perform rituals to look into the future. Traditionally, young people picked bouquets of seven or nine different flowers and put them under their pillow in the hopes of dreaming about their future spouse. In the past it was believed that herbs picked at Midsummer were highly potent, and water from springs could bring good health. Greenery placed over houses and barns were supposed to bring good fortune and health to people and livestock. To decorate with greens was called att maja (to may), and may be the origin of the modern word majstång. Other researchers say the term came from German merchants who raised the maypole in June because the Swedish climate made it impossible to find the necessary greens and flowers in May, and continued to call it a maypole. Today, however, it is most commonly called a midsommarstång (literally “midsummer’s pole”).

Another Midsummer tradition is that unmarried girls should – before going to sleep on midsummer’s eve – pick seven kinds of flowers and jump over seven roundpole fences and then sleep with the flowers under a pillow. Supposedly, during the night they would then dream about who they would get married to. If only things were that simple today, huh?

O.K., so maybe Midsummer is a little strange. But it’s about as Swedish as anything can get, as quintessentially part of the country’s heritage as meatballs, julmust, and red wooden houses.

Midsummer is a great time to hang out with friends. Photo: Tamar Amashukeli

And if you’re a lonely student looking to see what the big deal about dancing around a maypole really is, never fear: many towns and cities offer public Midsummer celebrations (the annual Midsummer celebrations held in Stockholm’s Skansen Park and Leksand in Dalarna are said to be the largest in the world).

If you’re lucky enough to be in Sweden this time of year, go out and enjoy Midsummer. I promise there won’t be any kids ringing your door at 11 p.m. asking for candy.

Ben Mack — Student

June 24, 2011

Happy Midsummer!

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I started writing this last night in the quiet of my apartment, feeling a little like a child the night before Christmas. All the preparations for Midsummer were in order, there were certain tasks that need to be completed in the morning (among those: making another flower head wreath), and now, this morning, all that stands between me and the Midsummer festivities is time.

Although the weather is less than perfect at the moment, I’m excited to see what the day will bring. Undoubtedly herring and snaps, fresh potatoes and a strawberry cake. (See fellow Sweden.se blogger Anne’s Midsummer strawberry cake for an example.) But what else? Should I have bought a traditional folk dress? Now I’m just making myself nervous.

I thought about live blogging Midsummer from beginning to end for a moment, right before I realized that combining aquavit consumption with internet access was not a good idea. I’ll be taking lots of photos instead so I can report back to you all later.

Will we dance around a maypole? Will traditional songs be sung? Will we channel the spirit of the Vikings and summon the ghost of Leif Ericsson? (I really hope so.) On a related note, do you think that Ikea makes ready-to-assemble maypoles? Because that would be awesome.

Here is a small sampling of photos from the week’s Midsummer preparations—making snaps, weaving our own flower head wreaths, and tapping centuries-old Midsummer magic. There will be much more later on all the action.

Photos: Kate Wiseman.

In the meantime, happy, happy Midsummer to all of you! I hope you enjoy the day no matter where you are.

 

Kate Reuterswärd - Expat

June 24, 2011

THE COUNTDOWN IS ON

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Ladies and gentlemen, we are now officially within one week of Midsummer. Hallelujah!

This will be my fourth summer in Sweden, but I have only been to one Midsummer celebration before. Actually, it was all the endless talk about Midsummer that served as a reason to visit Sweden for the first time. I was studying in Italy at the University for Foreigners in Perugia, and I kept hearing about this amazing day from all my Swedish friends. When my friend Josefin, a native Stockholmer, invited me to join her and her friends out in the archipelago for the celebration, I was all about it. Surprised to learn that there was an archipelago, but enthusiastic all the same.

Dear Josefin, Princess of Midsummer, yes I will come visit you on an island and eat large amounts of delicious herring and dance around Maypoles with you. Anytime. Photo: Kate Wiseman.

So on the day before Midsummer in 2008, I jumped on a Ryan Air flight from Italy to Stockholm, arriving in the city around midnght, just in time to catch the sun making an obligatory nod towards the horizon before starting to climb back up in the sky. Welcome to the land of the midnight sun.

The conditions were perfect for a terrible, terrible let down. I had traveled from one end of the continent to another to take part in super-hyped day with a bunch of people I didn’t know (except for my friend, of course) for a holiday whose festivities are largely dependent on the weather being good. And yet, despite all that, the day was perfect.

Garlands of flowers for your hair and maypoles to dance around: what more could you ask for? Photo: Kate Wiseman.

The weather was flawless: warm and sunny on an island where the sky stretches for miles. I discovered for the first time just how well the general Swedish population speaks English. A Maypole was erected, and while I didn’t know what was being sung, I hopped around said Maypole in a circle with the rest of my new acquaintances while they sang and laughed. (Later I was told that I was a little frog, hopping around.)

Drinking songs were also sung, and great quantities of bitter-tasting aquavit were drunk. I had my first taste of herring, and for a few moments I very seriously considered taking a swim before a tentative toe stuck in the water sent me racing for the comfort of blankets. And while it got a little dim late at night, the sun never really set.

This is the sweet life. Midsummer food and the most perfect Swedish cottage of all time. Photo: Kate Wiseman.

Now, three years later, I get to do it again. O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

Here’s the skinny on Midsummer (or Midsommar, if you want to be authentic about it). It is yet another of the many holidays with its roots in pagan traditions, but this one does not have a Christian tradition that was superimposed over it. It’s a good old-fashioned sun-worshipping/fertility/thank God it’s summer festival, originally celebrated on the summer solstice (June 21) but now celebrated on the Friday closest to the solstice.

Traditional celebrations involve a very distinctive Maypole (think fertility again), lots of food, and even more aquavit–a very strong, flavored liquor. I’m sure our resident food blogger will be talking more about the menu and drink choices, but I’ll be covering other Midsummer traditions in more detail throughout the week… stay tuned for more!

Kate Reuterswärd - Expat

June 18, 2011

Matjes herring salad

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Matjes herring salad

Photo: Jakob Fridolm/Image Bank Sweden

Matjes herring salad
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Recipe Type: Appetizer, Starter
Author: Restaurangakademin Stockholm
Serves: 10
Matjes herring salad or in Swedish “Gubbröra” (old man’s mess).
Ingredients
  • 4 matjes herring files’
  • 1 red onion
  • 2 boiled eggs
  • 7 boiled potatoes
  • 2 tablespoon chopped chives
  • 2 tablespoons chopped dill
  • 4 tablespoons mayonnaise
  • 1-2 tablespoon sour cream
  • spice bread
Instructions
  1. Cut the herring, eggs and potato into small dices. Chop the onion finely and mix with the rest of the ingredients.
  2. Season with salt and pepper and serve on spice bread crouton.
  3. Garnish with finely slices radishes and chopped chives.
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The recipe is created by Restaurangakademin Stockholm for The Swedish Embassies and Consulates.

Swedish recipes

June 14, 2011

The essential Swedish summer student guide

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You smell like a goat. You’re unshaven. You work endless hours in dimly lit caves. You speak a language understood only by others of your kind. You fear women and put prices on men’s heads. And legions of enemies long to destroy you.

The Swedish summer is not to be missed. Photo: Ben Mack

You are, of course, a journalist.

All you care about is your pretend world of writing. Everything you do is in an effort to find words for your next story. That’s all it is.

On the other end of the spectrum of humanity, you have the student. Idealistic, joyful, fresh-scented: the antithesis of a journalist.

Everything you encounter you view with a sense of open-minded wonder. Life is seen as a series of experiences, and your only motivation is to experience them.

And when it comes to experiences, the Swedish summer is chock-full of them – and at student-friendly prices, too.

If you decide to come to Sweden before the start of the fall semester – or stick around after the spring – you’ll be in for a treat that even dour-demeanored journalists such as myself can appreciate.

Here’s a brief (and admittedly very small) sampling of what you can do:

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SEE THE MIDNIGHT SUN

In Norrland, the sun almost never sets during the summer. Photo: Ben Mack

While normally associated with ice hotels, the Northern Lights and freezing temperatures almost year-round, head up to Norrland during the summer and you can experience sunshine almost 24 hours a day. It never gets totally dark, and is a great chance to go north of the Arctic Circle without needing snowshoes. Be sure to check out the wildlife such as reindeer, and if you get a chance try hiking up Kebnekaise, Sweden’s tallest mountain (over 2000 meters high). You can also learn about the Sami, the indigenous people who have lived in Sweden for more than 5000 years.

SJ offers daily (and nightly) train journeys, going as far as Narvik, Norway. A one-way trip from Växjö takes more than 20 hours, but offers spectacular views of some of the most unspoiled natural areas in the world.

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GO FISHING

Thousands of lakes dot Sweden, and almost every one of them is loaded with fish. And thanks to allemansrätten (“everyman’s right”), you can fish in quite a few of them. Check local laws first, though, to make sure you’re not catching an endangered species.

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ROUGH IT SWEDISH STYLE

Swedes are known for having a special connection to nature, which is reflected in architecture. Photo: Ben Mack

Allemansrätten gives a person the right to access, walk, cycle, ride, ski, and camp on any land –with the exception of private gardens, the immediate vicinity of a house and farmland. Restrictions also apply for nature reserves and other protected areas. The law also gives the right to pick wild flowers, mushrooms and berries (provided they are not legally protected), but not to hunt. Swimming in any lake and putting an unpowered boat on any water is permitted unless explicitly forbidden. Visiting beaches and walking by a shoreline is permitted, providing it is not a part of a garden or within the immediate vicinity of a residence. According to legal practice this is between 100 to 300 meters from a dwelling house.

In other words, almost the entire countryside becomes your own personal playground. Just remember to clean up after yourself: Swedes take environmental stewardship very seriously.

Despite its northerly location, daytime summer temperatures throughout Sweden are commonly above 20 degrees Celsius. So go and enjoy the great outdoors – without losing a kilo of sweat.

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GET YOUR GROOVE ON

Summer is music festival season throughout Europe, and Sweden is no exception. Photo: Csilla Nagy

Summer means music festival season, and Sweden offers a plethora of them for almost every taste. From large, multi-day events such as Gothenburg’s Way Out West (this year from August 11-13 and featuring Kanye West, Robyn, Tiësto, and dozens of other bands) to smaller festivals such as Norbergfestival (July 28-30 in Norberg, featuring electronic and experimental acts like Lustmord and Dopplereffekt) and Skogsröjet (August 12-13 in Rejmyre, with metal bands like W.A.S.P. and hardcore Superstar), there’s something for everyone. Many festivals also offer camping, meaning you can turn your trip into an aural adventure.

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RELEASE YOUR INNER IBRAHIMOVIC

Helsingborg's Olympia Stadium is just one of many that hosts regular Allsvenskan matches. Photo: Ben Mack

Allsvenskan (meaning “All-Swedish”) is the highest division of football in Sweden, with the 16 teams playing a 30-game schedule from April to October. Most of the teams are located in southern Sweden, and each stadium holds thousands of supporters. Student tickets can be as cheap as 100 kronor, and even if you’re not a die-hard supporter of a club, it’s a great way to spend the afternoon and watch normally mild-mannered Swedes display emotions you didn’t think were possible. And with Swedish football encompassing a total of 10 tiers (Allsvenskan, Superettan, and Divisions 1-8), there’s a match going on just about everywhere.

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STUDY SWEDISH

Make your summer a study summer, where you learn Swedish to get a leg-up before fall classes start. A number of study associations offer courses at all levels. Possibly, you might also be eligible for university courses in Swedish, either full- or part-time.

Once you’ve achieved a certain level of proficiency, you can get a certificate by passing a recognized test.  To find the program that’s right for you, the Swedish Institute has some great links to get you started.

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DANCE AROUND A MIDSUMMER MAYPOLE

June 25 is Midsummer, one of the biggest holidays of the year in Sweden. Traditional events include raising and dancing around a huge maypole (majstång or midsommarstång), an activity that attracts families and many others. People listen to traditional music and some even wear traditional folk costumes. In addition, many wear crowns made of wild springs and wildflowers on their heads. Potatoes, herring, chives, sour cream, beer, snaps and the famous Swedish strawberries are usually eaten. Drinking songs are also important, and many drink heavily. Swedish culture at its finest, it is truly an event not to be missed.

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So while the above list may just be a small sampler from the Swedish summer smorgasbord, know this: there’s never a shortage of things to do. For more ideas, head to your local tourist office (most towns have one), or search online.

Or better yet, step outside. You’ll be surprised how sunny it is.

If you’re a journalist, it’s a great way to at least get tan enough to resemble a ghost. That, and more material for your overly exaggerated narrative.

Swedish National Day, June 6, is sometimes called the unofficial start of summer. Photo: Ben Mack

Ben Mack — Student

June 13, 2011