Hello March! I am not quite ready to accept Spring yet, so I will continue with another one of our snowy adventures from Northern Sweden today.
Delicate flakes of snow had started to fall when we met Eva at the Ajtte Museum. I had a cup of hot chocolate to warm my paws and then we followed Eva through the forest to visit her home. We walked through and under the tall straight pines with only the sound of fresh snow being crushed softly underfoot.
On our walk, we learned about local traditions and events, tasted some home-baked crackers made with pine bark and made fresh tracks in the snow. As we followed Eva further into the oldest part of the forest I fell quite in love with her cape! It was so beautiful and made by a locally based designer.
We spoke about foraging for seasonal plants and berries and took a little walk around Lappstan – the area in which Eva lives, that was built specifically for reindeer herders in the 1950’s.
All the houses had cosy lights glowing in the windows, skis leaning against the porches and layers of foot thick white snow on the rooftops.
Once inside we sat down to drink herbal tea – we tried a few of Eva’s different home blended flavour combinations and discussed the bounty of ingredients she sources from all over Sweden. She holds all different kinds of classes that teach and share unique taste experiences with an emphasis on wild flavours. On top of the flavour party that was happening in our mouths, we were fascinated by all the fine details on her collection of hand carved spoons and scoops.
Amongst other things we drank Meadowsweet cordial, tasted preserved wild angelica (my favourite, I really regret not bringing any home), birch infused crispbreads, chocolate truffles with Rowan berries and cloudberry fruit ribbons.
After a very special couple of hours, it was time for us to leave our wonderful hostess and make our way back to our hotel, we walked out of the forest and along the tree line at the edge of the frozen lake towards our hotel sparkling in the distance.
If you visit Jokkmokk be sure to see if you can join in on one of the taster courses – it was such a magical experience, I can’t recommend it enough. Click the following links to read part I and part II of our trip. Hope to see you tomorrow! x
