The Swedish Strawberry

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Today is August 15. The temperature is approx 25°C (77°F), the sky is all blue, and the sunshine is pouring down on my face as I cross the street on my way to the supermarket. It’s a beautiful Swedish summer day. But – wait, something’s missing!

Strawberries on desert

For almost three months, there has been a table on the sidewalk next to the supermarket, a table full of boxes of red and sweet and tempting strawberries, with an equally sweet girl behind. Today the spot beside the entrance is empty, and I realize that the summer is coming to an end. Not yet, please, not yet!

Strawberries, as are any Swedish berry, are an essential part of summer for all Swedes, a self-evident dessert on any Swedish table, with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream or why not creme fraiche.

We use to claim that Swedish strawberries are the best, the sweetest, most aromatic in the entire world. And that’s true. Is it? Almost… I’ll return to that statement later.

I used to live in California a few years ago. When I first got there, I was impressed by the beautiful strawberries that were displayed in the grocery store. They were huge and looked perfect, but I was disappointed by their taste. And the same goes for the strawberries I’ve tasted in southern Europe.

wild swedish strawberries

So… is it really a fact that Swedish strawberries are sweeter and have more aroma, and if so, is there a reasonable explanation? Yes, and yes.

The explanation is the latitude. Our northern location means that the spring and early summer are cooler than in Italy and Spain, as well as in US. At the same time, we have more light – by midsummer time, when the first strawberries are on sale, it’s daylight all around the clock in northern Sweden!

In the cool weather it takes longer time for the strawberries to ripen, which gives them time to collect the abundance of light that promotes sweetness. That’s the reason.

So, finally, honestly… are Swedish strawberries the best and sweetest? Well… actually, Norwegian strawberries are just as fine… and so are Finnish. To be honest, the very best I’ve eaten were grown in northernmost Norway, close to Lofoten.

But those are in very short supply, so for all practical reasons, Swedish strawberries rule!

3 thoughts on “The Swedish Strawberry”

  1. Hej Miss Foster
    It sounds as if your Calif strawberry experience was due to berries bought in the store. They look perfect and delicious but have little taste. Here in Northern Calif we are fortunant to have two straw berry seasons beginning in April and again in October. The small plots that sell direct to the consumer produce wonderfully tasty berries that must be eaten inside of a day or two because they go bad very quickly unlike those in the stores which seem last forever and never taste good. My birthday is in April and I always have strawberry short cake for the celebration. I would really like to try some cloud berries. Just might have to make a trip to Sweden for that!

    Reply
    • Could be! It actually was Thomas’ experience. Swede who lived in Cali.

      For Cloudberries, def need a trip to Sweden!

      Reply
  2. Hi Erik,
    yes, I was behind the strawberry statement. You are right, of course. I was referring to the Californian strawberries I bought at Safeway’s, and the strawberries I was served on different occasions.

    I do believe that I might have found sweeter strawberries with more aroma at a local farmer. But as you pointed out, those might have perished faster. Or they may have been smaller, or yielded less to the farmer.

    The species we know as “garden strawberries” were created by French gardners almost 300 years ago, by crossbreeding several wild species. Further crossbreeding has produced several hundreds of subspecies / varieties with varying properties. The grower’s choice can be this: high-yielding berries with long shelf life, or low-yielding, sweet but perishable berries? It’s another proof that you can’t have it all.

    What I was trying to say was that plants of the same subspecies, grown on different latitudes, will display different properties. Close to the arctic circle, it will yield less, grow slower, ripen later, and taste sweeter. It’s still another choice for the grower :-).

    When it comes to cloudberries, look in specialty food stores where you live. I remember buying a jar of cloudberry jam at Draeger’s in Menlo Park. Try it with double cream or vanilla ice cream. Or, buy some snack size pieces of Camembert cheese, fry them quickly (careful, too long and the outer layer will break!), fry a few twigs of parsley (takes less than 2 seconds), serve the jam over the cheese, topped with fried parsley. Enjoy.

    But of course, a bowl of fresh picked cloudberries is worth the trip to Sweden.

    //Thomas

    Reply

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