Swedish Midsummer: Feasting the Night Away!
Midsummer is a holiday celebrating the summer solstice, when the sun reaches its highest position in the sky – the longest period of daylight. After lengthy winter months of what seems like never-ending darkness, sun starved revelers join much of humanity in nonstop festivity. It is popular in most of the northern United States and other northern countries around the world, like Sweden.
Established in the 4th Century, Midsummer Eve begins on a Friday night between June 19th and June 25th, a national holiday in many countries. It continues into the following Saturday, Midsummer Day, and usually lasts the whole weekend long. It has become the national excuse for the biggest parties of the year.
I am most familiar with the Swedish version, having celebrated along with my relatives at our summer island cottage over the years. Beginning Friday morning, families and friends gather to set the scene for their feast, called a smörgåsbord (pronounced smer-gose-boord).
A smörgåsbord is a Swedish invention and is literally a table of open-faced sandwiches. Today’s Smörgåbord has evolved into an exhaustive buffet-style spread.
Our family celebrated it with friends, going back generations, on the largest outdoor veranda, on the tiny island, Grimsön. We’d connect rickety unmatched tables side by side on the veranda, with barely enough room for the many chairs to crowd around them. Each family brings their special dishes until the table groans under the weight of the food and drink. We are lucky that the town bakery was owned by a family among us, so we enjoyed the freshest and most authentic Princesstårta (Princess Cake) in the land.
There are appetizers, salads, main courses and desserts. The dishes signal summer’s first harvests: Strawberries grown in the country, freshly clipped dill, and tender root vegetables, especially “new” potatoes, which are freshly harvested young, small, potatoes. Fresh, locally caught fish are featured – usually salmon and herring from the icy Baltic – with other seafoods, too.
One of the traditional foods on our Midsummer table, in the province of Häsingland, is literally rotten fish. A kinder description would be fermented herring, called surströmming. It’s a traditional dish from northern Sweden that arose during the 16th century when Sweden had a salt shortage. Today, the fish has become infamous for its stinky smell, yet enthusiasts praise it. I reluctantly tasted it one year, and to put it politely, I am definitely not one of those enthusiasts!
Desserts feature the first harvest of succulent strawberries (jordgubbar), blueberries (blåbär), lingonberries (lingnon), and cloud berries (hyortron), typically with whipped cream. Sweden brims with berries, like other northern parts of the world, the only fruits that can be grown in colder climates. Princesstårte, a traditional Swedish cake with layers of sponge cake and whipped custard cream, topped with a dome of marzipan, is often featured … A once in a life time treat.
The traditional drinks are shots of Aquavit, along with a rousing “Rah! Rah! Rah!” from the merrymakers, and Swedish beer, accompanied by the Swedish drinking song, “Helan Går,” translated as “Bottoms Up!”
There are cured ingredients as well. Pink rolls of cured salmon (gravlax) are wrapped around dill sprigs, with yellow mustard sauces and peppercorns alongside. There is fresh and grilled herring caught nearby, and coarse salt, as well as dill and other pickles. Eggs, cheese and cream are included, too.
Preparation of our Midsummer feast always began a couple of days before. A local fishermen would roll fresh-caught salmon stacked in rickety wheelbarrows into town going door to door displaying his wares for inspection by anxious cooks.
My grandmother would carefully examine the fresh-caught salmon. In a solemn transaction, she chooses the final selection with an abrupt, “This will do!” The fisherman nods, satisfied, and carries the fish to the kitchen where it lands on the counter with a thud. The smell of the sea enters the house with the day’s catch. The best knife has been sharpened for this moment: the start of Midsummer Eve cooking.
I believe Swedish food is the original nouvelle cuisine. The Swedes have always used superior, locally sourced ingredients for their dishes and meals. Unfussy, it is centered around seafood, local vegetables, fruits, and 100% coarse rye breads.
This year’s Midsummer Eve is June 21, 2024, with the celebrations, and activities continuing on Midsummer Day, June 22, 2024.
The National Geographic describes “Everything you need to know about the Summer Solstice,” including how Fairbanks, Alaska celebrates the holiday with their “Midnight Sun Game.” The game typically begins around 10:30 p.m., continues straight through midnight, and often lasts as late as 2 a.m. Fairbanks, which is located only 160 miles south of the Arctic Circle, gets up to 22.5 hours of summer daylight.
The successful midsummer never-ending lunch party involves flowers in your hair, dancing around a maypole, singing songs while drinking schnapps, and downing a whole load of traditional Swedish foods from the year’s first harvest, like strawberries, and delicate new potatoes. All in all, a grand day out.
How to make your own crown of flowers. All you need is an inexpensive supermarket bouquet of flowers, thin wire, and thread! The flower crowns are worn by children and adults alike.
Besides the crown of flowers, there are many fun activities for children for understanding and celebrating the summer solstice, like making cosmic suncatchers, sundials, sun prints, summer resolutions, and bucket lists.
In Washington, DC, the Smithsonian Museums mark the first Saturday of every summer-“Solstice Saturday”-by staying open late, hosting exhibits, programs, and activities. “Solstice Saturday” includes free parties, programs and performances throughout the day and night June 24. Several museums on the National Mall will have extended hours, with three museums staying open until midnight. Visitors who stay late can explore exhibitions, join a garden dance party or enjoy activities on the Mall. including games and performances throughout the day and night. On Saturday, June 22, 2024, the Smithsonian’s Hirschhorn Museum hosts Hofstra University’s “Astronomy Festival on the National Mall” from 6 to 11.
Investigate your community for Midsummer events nearby.
Traditional Swedish Midsummer Recipes and Menus
New Potatoes with Fresh Dill
6 Savory Toppings for Crunchy Swedish Hard Bread
Swedish Buttermilk Bread,
or and alternate Whole Grain Buttermilk Bread
Gravlax with Mustard Sauce
Cucumber Salad with Fresh Dill
Katherine’s Crepe-Style Swedish Waffles with Succulent Strawberries
Princesstårta
(Instead of making your own Marzipan Dome, you can buy one pre-made)
