I recently made Swedish Meatballs for the first time and it called for lingonberries. It made me wonder… am I the only one who has no clue what this is? This further made me wonder, why don’t we use more of this tasty little berry in this country? The most popular application for lingonberries seem to be with Swedish Meatballs. Although the Swedish know it as Lingon. If you happen to be familar with this and you also happen to be American, chances are it was IKEA that brought it to your attention.
Secretly I think most Americans would not bother with lingonberries because they look and behave much like cranberries, so why change what you know? …. but that’s just me. They are a cold weather fruit but that shouldn’t stop us from growing it. I know plenty of states that have cold weather climates. For me, I love the pairing of something a little sweet with anything savory so I was open to the idea of this tart yet sweet little jam. The jam itself, as it is known in Sweden, is called Lingon sylt. Your best chance of scoring some though is probably your local IKEA, unless of course you are in Europe.
Supposedly the English translation is more commonly known as cowberry. After surveying a few dozen people, I can confirm that no one is familiar with a cowberry nor are they apt to want to try it. Would you want to try something called a COWberry? If you are interested in trying it, run down to IKEA and get a jar. For a mere 2.99 investment, you can experiment with this culinary goodie. Try mixing it with ice cream, put it on your english muffin or have it with some meatballs, you just might be glad you did.
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