Wild garlic or ramps, known as ramsløk in Norwegian, can be found along the coasts and in the forests of Norway mainly during May and June. The season is short, only a few weeks, and as quickly as they grow up, they wither before the start of summer. They are a culinary treasure, used by chefs and home cooks who wish to serve up the perfect taste of springtime. They are also incredibly nutritious, and have been used for centuries for their medicinal properties.
This delightful plant grows wild, and has a subtle garlic flavor. It makes a nice addition to soups, salads, tarts and sauces as its taste is incredibly versatile. It’s one of those greens that needs only a little imagination to go a long way. If you can’t get your hands on any wild garlic, you can substitute it with garlic chives.
Kringler. Nordic pretzels of various forms of sweet, salty, filled, crispy and soft. But one kringle stands out as one of the most well-known in Norway and it hails from Bergen. It also happens to be a permanent fixture on the 17 Mai (Grunnlovsdag) table, as it finds its place alongside spekemat (cured meats) and rømmegrøt.
Sprouts of stinging nettles and wood nettles (brennesle) have unearthed across our farm following an indecisive spring which left plenty of water and a sudden transition from frosty earth to vibrant patches of green. In only a few short days, they have begun a siege to take over; relentless, swift and full of surprise positioning. While their dominance and sting may prompt many to take up battle, it is their nutrition and use in cooking which have many people, including myself, welcome the voracious growing with open arms.
Lifting the weight and removing the board revealed a two-day culinary journey. Nothing difficult, nothing too time consuming. An act of osmosis. Curing. Transformation. And as the sharpened knife slowly pierced into the orange-pink, dill-infused delicacy, the thrill of knowing the next time step would be getting a taste reached across to everyone in the kitchen. A smooth, grainy and subtly sweet mustard sauce and a warm, hearty bowl of creamy potatoes dancing with dill to round it all off. Luxury at its finest and also its simplest.
A Norwegian breakfast and lunch is never complete without a slice of bread or a type of knekkebrød. These ‘crisp breads’ or ‘breaking breads’ which are flat and dry, resembling a cracker, probably originated in Scandinavia close to 500 years ago. Some sources say that crisp bread was a staple of the Vikings as they could store them for long periods of time. These crisp breads would have been baked on hot stones, while today’s knekkebrød is baked in the oven. Baking them in the oven is what makes these crisp breads so different from the Norwegian flatbrød, which is baked on a flat griddle, much like lefse.
The roosters and hens have given a whole new meaning to the term ‘free range’ these days. Making their rounds, they circle up into the woods and around the kitchen garden just before sunbathing and slumbering below my kitchen window. They continue on following a makeshift pathway down a small slope to the main lawn and heading back to their coop for another siesta. They make this journey a couple of times a day and the roosters crow every once in awhile as if to give me some sort of sense that their journey under the sun is going well. Very well.
