This is how you stock your Scandinavian pantry
Diving into a new cuisine can be overwhelming. Recipes call for spices you don’t have at home, or combine ingredients in ways you’re not used to. Once you’ve got the perfect pantry in order, you’ll be whipping up new recipes with ease. These are our Scandinavian kitchen favorites to fill your pantry with.
Scandinavian food is hugely popular outside the Far North, with light dishes featuring plenty of fish, rye, berries and root vegetables. Ingredients are often aged, smoked or pickled to keep them good for longer.
Spices
Scandinavian cuisine isn’t as spicy as, for example, Indian or Mexican cuisine. There are a few herbs and spices that keep coming back, such as saffron, cardamom, allspice and nutmeg. These spices are often used in combination with sweet ingredients too, sometimes even in cakes and baked goods.
Surströmming
Um, seriously, do you need to stock this at home?! This canned fish is known as one of the smelliest foods in the world! And yet, it’s hugely popular in Sweden. Fermented Baltic herring is sold in cans, where it continues to ferment, causing the cans to sometimes bulge from the pressure. You have to acquire a taste for it, but it’s absolutely quintessentially Scandinavian. Surprise your guests with it sometime—if you dare.
Fish
In any case, alongside plenty of fresh fish, canned fish is eaten frequently too. Whether it’s sardines, mackerel or these anchovies from the brand with the most Scandinavian name ever: ABBA.
Knäckebröd
These wafer-thin, crisp crackers are eaten all year round. Delicious with fish or a good slice of cheese, but they’re also often served alongside a meal.
Dill
Maybe not necessarily something for the pantry, but a little plant on the counter looks lovely too. Dill is used abundantly and gives dishes a distinctively fresh flavor. The fact that it pairs wonderfully with fish is no coincidence.
Fish roe
Whether it’s caviar or other types of fish roe, people in the North love it. Kalle even sells tubes that allow you to squeeze out caviar.
Lingonberry jam
Lingonberries are a type of red berry and are found widely here. What you’ll mainly see them used in is jam, which is spread on just about everything. Delicious on bread for breakfast, but also indispensable on a Scandinavian snack board. Buy it at IKEA or online.
Rye
In Sweden, rye is used extensively in baking. Naturally, it’s used to make the well-known rye bread and IKEA’s famous Roggeknäckebröd, but also plenty of sweet things such as cookies.
Horseradish
Quite sharp, making it a very good addition to a sour cream sauce served with salmon, for example. But it’s also delicious grated over dishes whole for a fresh, spicy flavor. If you can find fresh horseradish, take it home with you by all means. It will keep for a few weeks anyway.
Swedish meatballs!
And of course Swedish meatballs can’t be missing from your freezer! The Swedish furniture giant has a vegan version of the famous meatballs, which according to FavorFlav’s snackspert are even tastier than the regular meatballs. And you can simply buy a bag, so at home you only need to put them in the microwave for two minutes.
Read also:
- Unbelievable: this bizarre oven dish is a Swedish cult classic
- Dishes that (star) chefs never put on the menu
- Food trends chefs hate, part one
Image meatballs: IKEA
