Facts About Lingonberry jam
Lingonberry jam is a staple food in Northern European cuisine and otherwise highly popular in Central and Eastern Europe. Lingonberries grow on a short evergreen shrub in the Arctic tundra throughout the Northern Hemisphere from Eurasia to North America.
History
In Sweden, lingonberries may be sold as jam and juice, and as a key ingredient in dishes and desserts. Lingonberry jam may be served with meat courses, such as meatballs, beef stew or liver dishes; regionally, it is served with fried herring. Traditional dishes such as kroppkakor, pitepalt, potato cake, kåldolmar, mustamakkara and black pudding are also commonly combined with lingonberries. The jam can be paired with mashed potatoes and the traditional oatmeal porridge, sometimes together with cinnamon.
Composition
Fine lingonberry jam is prepared with berries, sugar and, optionally, a small amount of water. Cheaper varieties can be diluted with apples. Sweetened lingonberries (rårörda lingon) or (rørte tyttebær) is prepared fresh by just mixing berries and sugar, without boiling. Because of the benzoic acid, which is found in high amounts in lingonberries, the berries keep well without any preservatives.
Norway