Swedish Cardamon Bread Recipe on Food52 (2024)

FAQs

Why do Scandinavians use cardamom? ›

In Scandinavian culture, cardamom often represents comfort and home and family and holiday treats–similar to how we in the U.S. view cinnamon, perhaps.

Pulla is also common in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and Northern Ontario, areas in the United States and Canada which have large Finnish populations. There it is also commonly known as nisu, an old Finnish word still in use with the same meaning in some dialects, despite originally simply meaning 'wheat'.

Cardamom is not native to Sweden, but it has become an integral part of Swedish cuisine. During the Middle Ages, traders brought spices from the East to Sweden, and cardamom was one of them. Over time, cardamom became a staple in Swedish baking and cooking, especially in sweet dishes like these buns.

"There was an idea in medieval medical practices that cardamom was good for you when it was cold, which makes sense why it would be of interest in a cold climate like ours."

These labor-intensive harvesting processes drive up the cost of these delicate spices, which, when combined with the additional factor of supply and demand, is responsible for making them some of the most expensive ingredients by weight in the world.

Different regions of Finland developed their own slightly different versions of the rye bread, but without any doubt, this is the most famous and beloved type of bread all over the country. In 2017, Finland is celebrating its 100th anniversary, and rye bread was voted the country's national food!

Over a thousand years ago traders carried cardamom along the spice routes from India and eventually made its way through Constantinople brought by the Vikings to Scandinavia where it became very popular among the Finnish and Swedish in baking bread and pastries.

Traditional Eastern Finnish rye bread is called limppu. The closest translation to English would be "loaf" (although limppu is always round and bulbous, while rectangular loaves are available). This bread is dark, sour in taste, dense, heavy and comparatively dry.

Pågenlimpan - Sweden's best-selling loaf.

Kavring is a classic Swedish bread that started by traveling through the Nordic countries. It originated as a crisp rye bread in Norway, and then, in the late 1800s, it evolved into a slightly sweet, tender, and fragrant loaf in southern Sweden.

What is the famous bun in Sweden? ›

The semla – a small, wheat flour bun, flavoured with cardamom and filled with almond paste and whipped cream – has become something of a carb-packed icon in Sweden.

Swedish cookbook author Johanna Kindvall says that many Swedes believe the Vikings brought cardamom to Scandinavia, having encountered the spice in the bazaars of Constantinople (today's Istanbul) about 1,000 years ago.

However, some 95% of cardamom produced in India is for domestic purposes, and India is itself by far the most important consuming country for cardamoms in the world. India also imports cardamom from Sri Lanka.

1 History and importance. Cardamom is known to have been used in India since ancient times. It is known as Ela in Sanskrit and references to this can be found in ancient Sanskrit texts. Assyrian doctors and chemists were known to use many herbs, including cardamom (Parry, 1969).

We break down how cardamom became the flavor backbone in Swedish favorites such as mulled wine (or glögg), flavored coffee, and Christmas sweet bread. Talking with everyone from culinary archaeologists to Swedish-Canadian grandmothers, we'll uncover the unlikely history of this millenia-old spice!