Red gold comes from the land of Sweden, where they grow wild, especially in the northern part of the country where the forests are colored red in the autumn. Lingonberries ripen August through October, when the sun shines until late into the night. Remember your history? Sweden is called “the land of midnight sun” for this very reason. Since the harvest does not come until the holiday season, each year’s festive dishes that utilize this Scandinavian treat must look to last year’s crop for supply.
Lingonberries are small, red, and round -- and have a very tart flavor.
Swedish name: Ligon; Latin name: Vaccinium vitis. Either way, lingonberries are the red gold of the polar forests, or known throughout Scandinavia as the mountain cranberry -- a staple on the tables of the Nordic people.
Lingonberries are very rich in benzoic acid, and are therefore self-preserving -- no additional preservatives are necessary, though sugar is added to sweeten the taste. We import tjem from Sweden.
Lingonberries grow in bunches, are hand-picked, and taken to the freezing plant at the peak of their freshness, deep in the Swedish forests...but close to where the berries grow. They are individually frozen to retain freshness, then the berries are sorted, and electronically cleaned from leaves and stems to ensure that only those of the highest quality are used. No artificial flavors or colors are used. Due to their high acid content, lingonberries can be stored throughout the winter in water, with no preservatives. When packed into jars, they are “raw stirred” -- a process where the fruit is not boiled, but heated only until the skins break, releasing the luscious, tangy pulp, and sweetened with sugar.
While similar in flavor and appearance to the cranberry, it is much smaller and has an underlying pine, or strong natural wild-like taste. They are all natural.
Lingonberry uses are varied. They appear in sauces for meat or desserts, in syrups for pancakes, and as preserves. In Norway, the lightly sugared lingonberry is a side dish for wild game such as elk, hare, grouse, and fowl. A traditional Danish Christmas dinner is roast goose and sugared potatoes with lingonberry sauce. In Sweden, the crown of the Queen of Light (who visits every Swedish home early in the morning of December 13) is made from lingonberry greenery.
The fruit content in our Felix Lingonberries is 48%. The normal standard is 35%.
The old tradition of value/taste gave, then, the lingonberry its nickname -- Red Gold..
Wildly delicious!