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CHRISTMAS

Where to get the food you need for an international Christmas in Sweden

If you want a taste of home this Christmas, or perhaps just a change from endless lussekatter and pepparkakor, you might be on the lookout for international ingredients for your festive feast. Here's a look at the best places to find non-Swedish Christmas foods in Sweden, put together with some help from our readers.

Published: 12 December 2019 15:34 CET

Where to get the food you need for an international Christmas in Sweden

From Italian panettone to a Christmas turkey to Polish desserts, here's where to find international Christmas food. Photo: Tim Marringa

Italian wines, pandoro and panettone

Reader Linde suggested Wijnjass on Bergsgatan in Stockholm for hunting down delicacies including great Italian wines to complement your Christmas meal.

For sweets and cookies, the store Amaretti Virginia in Gamla Stan is a cozy place with shelves are full of brightly coloured classic packaging. “We import premium products from the Liguria region. My father-in-law is from the village of Sasello in the north of Italy. That's how we got in touch with the Italian culture,” one of the owners, Jacqueline, told us.

Photo: Tim Marringa

“The panettone is the favorite Italian treat for Christmas. Soft and sweet, the perfect stylish cake for the holidays. It's a symbol of getting together with the whole family and sharing the panettone,” she said. “Last year we sold eighty cakes before Christmas, this year I ordered two hundred, and they are going fast.”

Eataly in Stockholm and Lidl stores all around the country also have an excellent panettone, recommended by The Local's readers.

And for anyone in Gothenburg wanting to add an Italian flavour to Christmas, restaurant Enoteca Maglia sells Italian ingredients as well as serving food.

French Bûche de Noël and pâtisserie

If there's one thing the French are known for, it's their fantastic bread. Bakery Petite France is popular through the year for its croissants and other goodies, but in the winter months the place is also the home of the Bûche de Noël or the French Yule log cake, a sponge cake with chocolate buttercream.

In Gothenburg, Sylvain Marron offers a small and sweet part of France in Sweden. As well as chocolates in a wide range of flavours, this is a spot to pick up baked desserts to add to the festive menu.

Photo: Tim Marringa

English Christmas pudding, marmalades and curds

Tea House Java in central Stockholm sells delicacies from all over the world, including many local products from Sweden and the classic Christmas pudding, as well as British desserts such as shortbread.

Also in Stockholm, the British butchers Taylors and Jones were recommended as a one-stop shop for everything for a great British feast during Christmas, including the turkey.

Photo: Tim Marringa

At the Little Britain store in Gamla Stan, it's possible to buy mince pies, Christmas puddings and fruit cake, as well as Christmas crackers. And a similar offering is available at Gothenburg's British Shop.

And reader Elis shared a tip for an English-Swedish hybrid Christmas dinner at the Gamla Riksarkivet. Elsewhere in Stockholm, brunch favourite Greasy Spoon is also serving British Christmas roast dinner in December.

Spanish exclusive hams, crustaceans and nougat

The Pavo Trufado de Navidad is the Spanish variant of the stuffed turkey, filled with truffles and serrano ham and served with fresh pineapples and orange. Dennis Kött in Spånga near Stockholm is known for its high-quality meats, including the famous Christmas turkeys. Be sure to buy in time, because these birds fly fast during the holidays.

In some parts of Spain, Christmas is all about the seafood. Despite its French name, Grand Gourmet in Stockholm imports quality products from Spain including fresh fish and crustaceans, cheeses and cured meats.

Photo: Tim Marringa

Salmantinos delikatesser, also in Stockholm, focuses on restaurants but also sells their products to private customers.

One of the top products in the store is the Jamon Iberico (Pata Negra). The meat from black Iberian pigs sold here is from the Spanish regions of Andalusia, Extremadura, and Salamanca. Because the leg of the pig is still intact, it's a spectacular addition to a festive feast.

Also on offer are snacks and desserts such as Turrónes, a sort of nougat with honey, sugar and egg white, mixed with nuts.

German strudel, kuchen and mulled wines

A German Christmas wouldn't quite be complete without krautstrudel, Christmas lebkuchen cookies and plenty of meat. At Österqvist Delikatesser in Hötorgshallen in Stockholm, one of Sweden's oldest delis, you'll find different kinds of German sausages, dried meat and products like sauerkraut, spätzle and kartoffelklösse.

The Wine Room at Hangövägen offers a Katzenhütte Glühwein for anyone who prefers the German take on mulled spiced wine to Swedish glögg.

Meanwhile, if you want some classic German lebkuchen at your festive gathering, Stockholm has two bakeries specializing in German products Tyska Bageriet and Der Berliner Bäcker.

Polish Wiglia: borscht and pierogi

The traditional Polish Christmas dinner, called Wiglia and eaten on Christmas Eve, excludes meat and has twelve different dishes, just as there were twelve Apostles. The Polish kitchen is known for two specific recipes. The first is borscht, an iconic eastern European beet soup. The second pierogi, filled dumplings that can be eaten with every meal, and both feature during Wiglia.

There are a few shops in Stockholm specializing in Polish delicacies. Polska Delikatesser is a little store that sells all kinds of Polish products, and you can try and taste different things here before you buy.

Photo: Jurek Holzer / SvD / SCANPIX

The shop Polen Specialisten has three stores in and around Stockholm. The store has a large selection of Polish foods so if you plan on making twelve different dishes for a Wiglia Christmas eve, this place should have all you need.

And another option in the capital is the PolFood – Kött & Chark store. They combine local production according to their own recipes and a hand-picked selection of products from the Polish market. Fresh sourdough bread, sernik (Polish cheesecake), makowiec (poppy seed cake), pączki (berry donuts with apple), and traditionally smoked Polish sausages are just a taste of what's on offer.

American Christmas turkeys

Many of the food traditions in the US have a British origin, and just like on Thanksgiving, the centerpiece of an American Christmas dinner table is a turkey.

In Stockholm, Lulles is a high-quality butcher selling every kind of meat you can possibly think of. Fresh game from different parts of Sweden such as moose, deer, deer, wild boar, reindeer, bear and hare. But you can also get turkey here.

In Malmö, one option is Ola och Ko, selling meat and poultry from surrounding producers and farms in the immediate area.

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How to grow your own fruits and vegetables in Sweden

Know your growing zone

Sweden is split into eight different growing zones, known as växtzoner in Swedish, with one being the mildest zone in the far south of the country and eight being the harshest, in the far north.

The easiest way to figure out which zone you live in is to search your address on a digital growing zone chart like this one from the Swedish Garden Association.

There are two “bonus” zones too, which you’re unlikely to see on plant labels: zone zero, which refers to extra mild conditions in zone one, like a sheltered south-facing garden or the climate inside an unheated greenhouse, and the fjällzon or zone nine, which is found in mountain regions.

Lots of fruit trees can handle snow, for example, but not all of them will survive the winters in harsher, colder zones.

“Apple trees or fruit trees will survive snow,” British gardener and cider maker John Taylor, known for presenting Swedish gardening show Trädgårdstider (Garden Times), told The Local.

“You can grow all kinds of apples, pears, plums, cherries, we can grow edible quince in southern Sweden, so there’s a bunch of fruit trees which will survive, but it depends what rootstock they’re on – that’s called grundstam in Swedish,” he explained.

“There’s one rootstock called B9 that survives down to minus 40, because it’s from Russia, then there’s another called M106, and that probably doesn’t want to live in the depths of Norrland.”

Buy plants local to you

An easy way to make sure the plant you’re planning on buying is going to survive in your zone is by sourcing it from a local plant nursery or garden centre, as they won’t sell plants that can’t handle the local climate.

“There’s a nursery in the north of Sweden and Finland called Blomkvists, they sell lots of fruit varieties which will survive up there,” Taylor said. “You can grow pretty much anything you want up there, just as we can [in Skåne, southern Sweden], but it will be different varieties that taste different and will survive the frost.”

You won’t be able to grow Mediterranean fruits like lemons or oranges in Sweden unless you bring them inside during the winter, although you should be able to grow peaches or nectarines in most of the country.

“The further up in the country you go, the further north you are or the further away from the coast, the harsher the climate becomes, so you might need to have them on a south-facing wall or in a greenhouse,” Taylor said.

Think outside the box

Although the growing season in Sweden may be shorter than it is further south, there are still a number of crops from warmer climates that do surprisingly well.

“People don’t really grow cucumbers outside here, I don’t think they realise that you can actually grow them outside,” Taylor said. “Tomatoes, too. You don’t need a greenhouse, you just stick them in the ground, they’re basically a weed – you’ll get so many you won’t know what to do with them.”

Sweetcorn, for example, performs well in a Swedish climate, Taylor said, although Swedes more often grow it as a feed crop for pigs.

You can also test things by trying to build a microclimate so you can grow things that are one or even two growing zones away from yours. Usually this is done by providing shelter from the wind and the weather using fences, hedges or by planting near buildings, as well as providing protection during the winter.

And if you’re pushed for space, look into companion planting, where you can grow multiple plants which complement each other in the same space.

One example of this is the “three sisters”: corn, climbing beans (or peas), and squash. The corn provides a support for the beans or peas, which anchor the corn in high winds while fixing nitrogen in the soil, while the squash’s large leaves provide shade for the soil, preventing it from drying out.

Don’t be put off just because you don’t have any outside space

Thinking outside the box applies to balconies too.

“If you’re in a built-up area, you will get reflected light from other buildings, so even if you’re on an east-facing balcony, you should be able to grow a lot of stuff. North is a bit more tricky, but east and west are probably better than south as you’re not getting hammered by the sun all day,” Taylor said.

You should be able to grow things like tomatoes, cucumbers and flowers, but it’s important to get hold of good soil and replenish it each year, so your plants have enough nutrients.

“Anybody with a balcony can grow pretty much the same that you can in a garden, you just have to get the soil up there and you always have to fertilise, the soil becomes nutrient deficient after one season.”

“But if you’re prepared to get the soil up on your balcony you can grow anything, even fruit trees. They will be smaller and stunted, and won’t give as much fruit – I’ve done it myself – so don’t see it as an obstacle, see it as a possibility.”

Kale and tomatoes growing on a balcony. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT

Take inspiration from Swedish growers

Thinking outside the box doesn’t mean that you should completely ignore what all your Swedish neighbours are doing. If you’re not sure what to plant in your garden or what fruit and veg you should try to grow, take a look at what other people who live near you are growing.

You might also come across some crops you’ve never tried before which work well in a Swedish climate, like Alpine strawberries (smultron), honeyberries (blåbärstry), wild garlic (ramslök) or sea buckthorn (havtorn).

This doesn’t just apply to varieties, but also where you plant them in your garden. Some crops need full sun, some work best in shade, and others, like asparagus, can grow tall and cast a shadow over your garden.

“You want a south-facing location for all fruit, and berries – check out what your neighbours are doing,” Taylor said.

If you don’t want tall plants to cast a shadow over other crops, see if you can plant them at the northernmost edge of your garden, while making sure that sun and soil conditions are still optimal. Blueberries, for example, need acidic soil to thrive, meaning you will probably need to amend your soil if planting in the ground, or even plant them in containers.

Think about what you want to do with your harvest

This may seem obvious, but it’s important to plant what you like to eat, too. If you hate the aniseedy, licorice-y taste of fennel, why bother growing it?

You should also choose the variety of crop based on what you’re going to use it for. Do you want to make pickles with your cucumbers, or are you going to eat them on salads? Do you want cherry tomatoes for snacking on, or big beef tomatoes for making sauces?

“Think ‘what am I going to do with my harvest’,” Taylor said. “Am I going to juice it? Am I going to preserve it? Am I going to make cider with it, for example?”

Apples, for example, can range from sweet eating apples to tart cooking apples, so make sure you do your research before you commit to buying an apple tree. Most varieties exist in English-speaking countries, so you should be able to search the name of the variety online and find some information in a language you understand, if you don’t speak Swedish.

“Patience is a virtue,” he added. “A lot of fruit trees are going to take two or three years, or even more, to give a harvest. So you have to have patience.”

Learn to deal with the Swedish weather

Many areas of Sweden along the coast or in the south of the country can get windy, which you’ll have to learn to deal with.

“How to deal with the wind? You can’t,” Taylor said. “We cannot affect this, we are powerless.”

“What you have to do is plant them in areas where there’s less wind, usually behind large buildings.”

Some plants simply won’t survive the wind, so either you plant them close to buildings, protect them, or accept that you’re restricted in what you can grow.

Make sure to provide supports for crops which will grow tall, like sunflowers, peas, beans and sweetcorn, and tie these down well or bury them deep in the ground, so summer storms can’t blow them away.

Listen to the full interview with John Taylor in The Local’s Sweden in Focus Extra podcast for Membership+ subscribers. Out on Wednesday, May 8th.

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