Wednesday, June 10, 2015

"Swedish" sweets

"Kokosbollar", "Lingontårta", and vodka chocolates.
Every year there is a "Swedish fair" from the chocolate (and cookie) maker Royce. The main Royce factory is located just outside Sweden Hills, a place where they have lots of cultural exchange with a small place in northern Sweden. Every year they make some cookies and other things that are supposedly kind of Swedish. Most of these are not very Swedish, but they are usually pretty good.

"Ostkaka" and "Hasselnötskakor".
This year they had five different "Swedish" things for sale. One was vodka filled chocolate. This sounds like something you would find in Sweden, since both vodka and chocolate are common and popular in Sweden. I have never seen vodka chocolate in Sweden, though.

Then there were some hazelnut cookies. This sounds like something we have in Sweden, and I am sure you can find people who make cookies with hazelnuts in them. I would not call it something particularly Swedish or particularly common in Sweden, though.

Then there was something called "lingontårta". This is something that sounds very Swedish, but "tårta" implies a soft and layered cake in Swedish. These things are more like muffins. So the word to describe them is wrong.

Then there are the "kokosbollar". This word is used for a very common sweet in Swedish. The product looks very much like actual kokosbollar. If you take a bite, it turns out to be completely different though, haha. They sell something that is a ball shaped cookie (crunchy). Actual kokosbollar are made by mixing butter, sugar, oatmeal, and kakao powder, so they are very soft.

Finally, the had something called "ostkaka", which translates as "cheese cake". Swedish cheese cake is kind of strange and is perhaps better described as pudding. It is very soft. These things on sale are cookies. Not soft.

All the products are fine cookies and chocolate, but none of them are particularly Swedish.

I took it upon myself to make some kokosbollar at home and give my friends to try. They agreed that what was sold and what I had made were completely different things.

Homemade kokosbollar

I got some home made pickles and home made curry in return, which were extremely good!


6 comments:

  1. Det enda av det där jag kunde relatera till var hasselnötskakorna! :-) Resten verkade vara uppfinningar av en väldigt fantasifull person.. :-) Dessutom, Svensk ostkaka gillar jag inte alls.. så dom här kakorna kanske var bättre.. Sen är det väl Chokladbollar som du bjöd på? även om man har kokos utanpå.. Kokosbollar är ju inte samma.. fast det vet du ju! :-)

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    1. Jag gillar inte heller svensk ostkaka, men min pappa gillar det. Det jag gjorde kallas kanske chokladbollar numera. Jag har inte hållit mig uppdaterad med vad saker och ting heter numera. När jag var liten var det ett politiskt inkorrekt ord som var vanligt bland barn istället...

      Kokosbollar är ju vad den japanska produkten kallas, så det bara fortsatte på det sättet i texten :-)

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  2. Japp. numera är det bara rasister som envisas med Negerbollar.. "För det har det ju ALLTID hetat jööö" .. :-) Dom är ju så noga med TRADITIONER, dom där!! Goda är dom alldeles utan att man förolämnpar en massa folk!! (Fast scenen i Sune-filmen med den amerikanske basketspelaren är riktigt kul..)

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    1. Ja, redan på min tid så hade man ju börjat gå ifrån "negerboll" men vad jag minns så var det inte riktigt klart vad det nya standardordet var så de kallades lite alltmöjligt.

      Sune-filmerna har jag inte sett. Jag läste några Sune-böcker när jag var yngre, dock.

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  3. Här har du den lilla scenen när Sunes pappa sköter ett café och ett gäng jättestora basketspelare kommer in och vill fika.. :-)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Vb_FY_mDNI

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    1. När jag såg den scenen nu så tror jag att jag sett den tidigare också. Undrar i vilket sammanhang det kan ha varit? Den är bra, ja :-)

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