A preserve of lingonberries cooked with sugar, almost without cooking, that keeps for months. Tart and lively, it accompanied game and meats of the taffel, or was eaten by the spoonful in times of scarcity.

Why this dish? In Christina's Sweden, the forests yielded abundant lingonberries and bog bilberries, picked in autumn and preserved in sugar or honey to last the long winter. These tart preserves accompanied the game of the royal taffel — a red thread between Nordic nature and the queen's table.

The lingonberries of our forests, red as rubies, autumn scatters them by handfuls under the pines. We store them in sugar — or honey, for those without a queen's coffers — and they defy the entire winter without turning. Serve them with game: their sharpness cuts through the fat of the flesh, and that, believe me, is more science than in many learned sauces.

How it was made : Preserving forest berries in sugar or honey was essential to survive the Nordic winter. Lingonberries naturally contain benzoic acid, which preserves them almost without cooking — hence the famous *rårörd lingon* (raw lingonberries stirred with sugar). At the taffel, these tart preserves balanced the fat of game, as Swedish cuisine still does.

The contemporary twist : A spoonful of lingonberries on fresh cheese, as a 'deconstructed Nordic cheesecake', or alongside meatballs.

Sources : Cajsa Warg, Hjelpreda i Hushållningen (1755)

Christina of Sweden · Charactorium