December 1

Welcome to “Christmas in Sweden”!

Today the countdown to Christmas begin and it is only 23 more days until Christmas Eve.

“Jul”, the Swedish Christmas holiday, is celebrated throughout December and traditionally until January 13 (twenty days after Christmas) which is called ‘Tjugondag Knut’ (Twentieth Day Knut) or ‘Tjugondedag jul’ (Twentieth Day Yule) and is named after a Danish prince called Knut Lavard. On Tjugondag Knut it’s traditional that the Christmas tree is taken down and and left over cookies and sweets are eaten. The main celebration and the exchange of gifts takes place on Christmas Eve, December 24. The Lucia Day is celebrated during Advent, on December 13.

At exactly 3 PM, half of Sweden sits down in front of the television for a family viewing of the 1958 Walt Disney Presents Christmas special, “From All of Us to All of You.” Or as it is known in Sverige, “Kalle Anka och hans vänner önskar God Jul” (Donald Duck and his friends wish you a Merry Christmas).

This program has been airing without commercial interruption at the same time on Christmas Eve since 1960. The show consists of Jiminy Cricket presenting about a dozen Disney cartoons from the ’30s, ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s, only a couple of which have anything to do with Christmas. There are “Silly Symphonies” shorts and clips from films like Cinderella, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and The Jungle Book. The special is pretty much the same every year, except for the live introduction by a host (who plays the role of Walt Disney from the original Walt Disney Presents series) and the annual addition of one new snippet from the latest Disney-produced movie.

TRADITIONAL FOOD:

A traditional julbord in Sweden contains a large variety of food, but the food you eat at Christmas may vary depend on where you live in the country, or where you came from originally. The dishes include local and family specialties.

Julbord, the “Christmas table”,  it’s basically a smörgåsbord with typical Swedish food on it. The table is filled with different bread, cheeses, butter, potatoes, Christmas ham (the ham is first boiled and then glazed with a mixture of egg, breadcrumbs and mustard), eggs, meat balls, pigs feet, salmon, herring, small hotdogs, roasted pork, warm potato casserole, matchstick potatoes layered with cream, onion and sprats called Janssons frestelse (“Jansson’s Temptation”), home-made liver paté, wort-flavoured rye bread (vörtbröd) and it just continues.

Lutfisk, lyed fish made with dried ling or cod, served with boiled potato, thick white sauce and green peas can be served with the warm dishes or as a separate course. Lutfisk is often served as dinner the second day after the traditional Christmas Yule-table dinner.

Julbord desserts include rice pudding sprinkled with cinnamon powder. Traditionally, an almond is hidden in the bowl of rice pudding and whoever finds it receives a small prize or is recognized for having good luck. Lots of chocolates and other sweets is consumed in large quantities.

Beer and julmust ( a very sweet carbonated soda that could be described like something of a mix between Root Beer and Coca-Cola.) and the occasional snaps are common beverages to this Christmas meal. Mulled wine “glögg” is a very common drink and tastes very sweet, raisins and different nuts and saffron buns are served throughout December.

Once everyone have eaten their fill, Santa Claus himself arrives to wish the gathering a Merry Christmas and distribute the presents and the families can start to wind down and enjoy the evening with some dessert, sweets and coffee.

Here is a few of the recipes I will be making this month in “Christmas in Sweden”.

* Malt bread with raisins
* Gingerbread/Gingersnaps dough
* Glögg (Mulled wine)
* Spiced apple cider
* Meatballs
* Janssons frestelse ( a popular potato casserole at the christmas table)
* Glazed ribs
* Christmas ham
* Applebaked pork
* Some side dishes.
* Ris a la malta (creamed rice pudding) and fruitjuice sauce.
* Saffron buns
* Swedish Christmas sweets
* Homemade mustard and pickled herring
* Desserts and other cakes

At the end of the month, on December 31, I will as a THANK YOU for joining me in this, give away 4 different cookbooks with traditional Swedish recipes, translated into english. So make sure to follow me on Instagram and Facebook where I will let you know how to get one of them.

I hope you will enjoy this and follow me on this experience!