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SCANDINAVIAN MONTHLY | FOOD & DRINK
Food & Drink
Scandinavian Herbs Text Tor Kjølberg
Fall is an exciting time for Scandinavian herbs. Herbs are the essence of the soil, and the tradition of any given culinary tradition. Foraging has been a long-loved Nordic activity, especially in September, when everything is brimming for harvest and the long dark winter fast approaches. The Nordic kitchen is very much influenced by Russian cooking and its use of horseradish and dill. Many Scandinavians tramp into the forest every year to find a bounty. The other herbs that infuse our dishes are used all over the world, although the subtle flavors of chervil, tarragon and parsley, wild thyme and wood sorrel are used
in mild Nordic ways, particular to our habits of eating delicately flavored food, with ingredients as the key note. Related: Scandinavian Poor Man’s Asparagus Foraging Foraging practice in Scandinavia is
that you should never take more than a small percentage of what you forage, so that the plants have an opportunity to regrow. Herbs have been gathered from the wild since the Stone Age, and more than now. The necessary common knowledge of herbs has more or less vanished, although cooks and foodies are regaining knowhow and
Feature image (on top): Photo by Markus Spiske / Unsplash
