After picking fresh lingonberries on Sunday, I made this jam. Traditional Swedish food like meatballs, stuffed cabbage rolls, potato cakes, potato dumplings, potato girdle cakes, barley flour porridge and blood pudding (black pudding) require lingonberry jam.

Lingonberries can be cooked in so many different ways. They contain significant amounts of natural benzoic acid and other fruit acids that make them stay well all winter long, whether cooked for a long time or not, whether sugar is added or not.

Follow this recipe if you want a ruby red, sweet tart and jellied lingonberry jam.

INGREDIENTS:
5 liters/21 cups lingonberries
1 liter/4 cups water
2 kg/4 pounds caster sugar

METHOD:
1. Rinse and clean the lingonberries.
2. Place them in a very large pot with the water and bring to a boil.
3. Boil for 10 minutes and remove from heat.
4. Stir in sugar, stir until it has melted and completely dissolved.
5. Pour the jam into hot clean jars and cover immediately.
6. Leave to cool and store in a dark cool place.

Lingonberry is a specie of evergreen shrubs of the heath family. Botanical name: Vaccinium vitis-idaea. Also called fox-berry, cowberry, mountain cranberry, low bush cranberry, mountain bilberry, csejka berry, red whortleberry, partridge berry, squaw vine, red berry, and many, many other names depending on country of origin.

There is an old tale about the lingonberry: When God created all the plants, God also asked the devil to create a plant. The devil created the lingonberry but tied a cross to it, so that everyone who ate the berry, should belong to him. But God wasn’t dumb. God found out the plan of the Devil, so he put a small cross on top of the strawberry too. Thus, the curse was broken. The lingonberry became not only a beautiful berry to look at but also a healthy berry to eat.

Since fresh lingonberries not only contain plenty of benzoic acid but significant amounts of salicylic acid too, the berries have been used as a cure for fevers and urinary tract infections.

New researches have also shown that lingonberries contain plenty of plant antioxidants which may protect against cell damage, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and other age related diseases.

My mother used to store lingonberries in bottles with water. The tart and sourish berries were then served as a dessert with sugar and whipped cream in winter time. As a child, I loved to eat them plain. I don’t know why. Today, I can’t eat anything that cause my mouth to pucker. Kids like sour things, don’t they?

Source: My Recipes