Swedish food: discover traditional cuisine

KNÄCKEBRÖD – flat and dry crispbread, mainly containing rye flour, often served with butter, cheese, or herring.

ÄGGAKAKA – a thick pancake made from flour, eggs, and milk, often served with fried pork and lingonberry jam.

VÅFFLOR – Swedish wheat waffles, cooked in a waffle iron and served with jam and whipped cream.

JANSSON’S TEMPTATION – creamy potato casserole of potatoes, onions, pickled sprats, breadcrumbs, and cream.

RAGGMUNK – potato pancake, a comfort food that is eaten with salted pork and lingonberry jam.

RÅRAKA – potato pancakes made from grated potatoes, typically served with lingonberries, sour cream, and sometimes roe.

ROTMOS – a mash of root vegetables, mainly turnips, carrots, and potatoes, often served as a side to pork or sausage.

BRUNA BÖNOR MED FLÄSK – brown beans cooked with syrup and vinegar served with thick slices of bacon.

RÖDBETSSALLAD – cooked or pickled beet salad mixed with mayonnaise, sour cream, and horseradish.

ÄRTSOPPA – thick yellow pea soup served with pancakes, a Thursday tradition.

KROPPKAKOR – potato dumplings with onions and pork, served with lingonberry jam and clarified butter.

PALT – meat-filled potato dumpling served with butter and lingonberry preserves.

BLÅBÄRSSOPPA – a soup made from bilberries, served cold or hot. It is sweet and contains starch, which gives it a thick consistency. It can also be served as a drink.

INLAGD GURKA – thinly sliced cucumbers pickled with vinegar, sugar, and spices, a common side dish.

KÖTTBULLAR – small meatballs from ground beef, pork or veal, served with potatoes, gravy, lingonberry jam and pickled cucumbers.

ISTERBAND – coarsely ground, lightly smoked sausage made of pork, barley groats, and potato. Served with potatoes, beets, and lingonberry jam.

WALLENBERGARE – ground veal, cream, and egg yolks coated in breadcrumbs and served with mashed potatoes, green peas, and lingonberry ham.

PYTTIPANNA – chopped meat, chopped potatoes, and onions dish, all pan-fried and served with egg – a leftover dish.

KALOPS – a slow-cooked beef stew spiced with allspice and bay leaves.

RENSKAV – thin slices of reindeer meat sauteed with wild mushrooms, served with lingonberries and creamy sauce.

GRAVAD REN – cured reindeer meat, seasoned with salt, sugar, black pepper and juniper berries.

BLOODPUDDING – medieval dish still popular in Sweden. Sausage filled with blood that is cooked or dried and mixed with a filler until it is thick enough to solidify when cooled.

PRINSKORV – prince sausage, a short variety of Viena sausage served with mustard.

KÅLPUDDING – cabbage and minced meat casserole, a classic example of Swedish husmanskost (home cooking) and is popular during the colder months.

GRAVLAX – cured salmon, seasoned with dill, sugar, and salt, thinly sliced, and served with mustard-dill sauce.

SILL – pickled herring, available in mustard, onion, garlic flavors, often served with boiled potatoes, sour cream, and chives.

S.O.S. – a classic Swedish appetizer platter whose name is both a clever acronym and a nod to its components: Smör (butter), Ost (cheese), and Sill (herring). This combo represents foundation of Swedish appetizer cuisine.

INLAGD SILL – pickled herring, usually salt-cured and then pickled with vinegar, bay leaves, onions, carrots, and pepper.

TOAST SKAGEN – buttery open-face sandwich topped with small shrimp salad, egg, mayonnaise, dill, and fish roe.

SKAGENRÖRA – a creamy shrimp salad with dill, lemon, and sometimes roe, often served on toast or with fish dishes.

STRÖMMING – Baltic herring, fried in butter and served with mashed potatoes and lingonberries.

KALIX LÖJROM – small salmonid fish roe, harvested from the Bothnian Bay archipelago of the Baltic Sea in northern Sweden (PDO protected).

FISKBULLAR – fishballs made from minced white fish meat.

INKOKT LAX – salmon cooked with onion and carrots in a mixture of water, vinegar, salt, and sugar. Usually eaten cold with mayonnaise, dill, and lemon.

OSTKAKA – a cottage cheese cake made with eggs, milk, and rennet (sometimes cottage cheese) and served with whipped cream and lingonberry jam.

SPETTEKAKA – a tall, cone-shaped cake made by slowly piping layers of egg, sugar, and potato starch batter onto a rotating spit over an open flame. Once cooked, it forms a crisp, hollow cake.

KANELBULLE – butter-sugar-cinnamon filled roll, Sweden’s most famous pastry internationally, has its own holiday (Kanelbullens Dag – Cinnamon Bun Day) on October 4th.

KARDEMUMMABULLAR – cardamom rolls. Central to fika, the Swedish coffee break tradition – a crucial social institution. Featured in virtually every bakery (konditori) across Sweden.

SEMLA – cardamom-spiced bun with cutoff top and filled with almond paste, whipped cream or jams.

PRINCESSTÅRTA – a layered cake with almond paste, marzipan, and whipped cream.

SMULPAJ – various crumbled pies and cookies with apples, blueberries and rhubarbs.

KNÄCK – a Swedish Christmas toffee made with cream, butter, and sugar, simmered until caramelized, often with added nuts for texture.